Agriculture - Haiti Observer Blog

The current Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Fresner Dorcin spent some rough time last Saturday. According to Newspaper Le Nouvellist, the incident took place at the home of Claudia St-Remy Champagne (Sister of Sophia St remy Martelly).

According to a source non identified source Minister of Agriculture Fresner Dorcin was insulted both physically and verbally by the famous Charles St-Remy AKA Kiko, a Heavy weight in the administration of Michel Martelly

Kiko St Remy is the Brother of the First Lady, Sophia Martelly and brother in law of current president Michel Martelly. According to the source, the incident was over a certain amount of money that was expected but not delivered. Based on a deal and an understanding between the two individuals, Minister Dorcin gave around $500,000 to Kiko St Remy who obviously was expecting much more. According to the source, Kiko expressed his dissatisfaction by hitting Minister Fresner Dorcin, sayng that he has done too much for Fresner Dorcin to be pay this amount

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The opening of the first Marriot Hotel in Haiti is an important milestone in the Haitian history. The journey began four years ago when Denis O'Brien, the founder and chairman of the telecom giant Digicel Group, the largest Caribbean's mobile phone service provider, decided to invest $45 million in building Marriott Port-au-Prince Hotel that presently employs about 200 Haitians, 96% of its total staff strength. The hotel exhibits an incredible collection of Haitian art throughout the property. The hotel buys their requirement as much as possible from the local markets, like items ranging from decor, bath products, foods and beverage. There were a lot of good hotels in Haiti but what it needed to help Haiti rebuild its tourism industry after the devastating 2010 earthquake was a multinational brand. The 175-room property in Port-au-Prince was opened to the guest on February 24th, this year.

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The Tide Turning for Haiti's Ailing Environment. Haiti's environment has suffered an extreme degree of deterioration, nearly unparalled globally. Once blanketed with virgin forests, its canopy only covers 4% of its land mass today. Without forest protection and seasonal heavy rains, topsoil gets sloughed off, creating flood conditions.

Haiti's agriculture sector is one of its largest, and should be the mainstay of the country's economy, but many factors, historical, social, political, and environmental have undermined its ability to thrive. Haiti at one time was the #1 exporter of coffee, and also exported enormous amounts of sugar cane. Global competition in both areas priced them out of the market.

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February 7, 1986 will forever remain a historic day in Haiti. It was on that day that Jean Claude Duvalier dove with his family in their Mercedes to the airport where a pre-arranged US government flight took them to Paris for exile. The cause of his ousting from power was a combination of several issues: the deepening of poverty in Haiti, corruption and a lavish lifestyle initiated by the new First Lady, Michele Bennett.

While life was beautiful at the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian population was falling deeper and deeper into poverty. The biggest single event that caused the population to be fed up with the government was the eradication of Creole pig.

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The Minister of Agriculture came out to declare himself highly concerned by the statements of one of the leaders of Mouvman Peyizan Papaya (MPP) that encouraged farmers to take action, affirming that it is time to use their machetes in order to attack government officials.

The controversy was minimized, as Thomas Jaques, declared that those statements went against republican values and the democratic ideals pursued by all civilized people. He called an incitement to hatred as obsolete in today's Haitian society. The result is still to be awaited. For this is not the first time that that Mouvman Peyizan Papay invites to direct action, the peasants of Haiti.

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When Anne and Stephanie Reynolds were visiting Haiti over a decade ago they were deeply affected by the poverty they witnessed. According to World Bank, Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

After returning home to Alabama, U.S., the Reynolds began putting into action ways they could help the residents of Haiti. Clothing and care packages were sent, but they also thought long term. The Reynolds collected funds to open a school for the children of Plaisance. With this project complete, they quickly moved to the next stage of support and that was to create jobs for the graduates, thus allowing the town to begin pulling itself out of poverty and become self-sustaining.

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The onion, in all its shapes and varieties, not only provides a succulent addition to hot recipes and crunchiness to raw salads, but also promotes many health benefits.

The onion is classified as a botanical vegetable, part of the genus alliaceae, also called allium cepa. The plant grows approximately two feet in height, and takes three to our months before it can be harvested. It is a popular vegetable used in cooking all over the globe.

Yellow and white onions possess a pungency because of a sulfur compound, allyl propyl disulphide. The Spanish red variety are milder and sweeter, a perfect accompaniment to salads. The shallot, a small, mild-tasting onion, possesses an ovular shape and sweeter flavor.

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Mario Perez, Director of the Dominican Institute of Grape, brought together a meeting for the discussion of cultivating vines in the south of Haiti. The vine would be used for the production of wine in the region.

Different environmental factors including appropriate sunlight, climate and well drained soil are necessary for growing vine grapes which normally take around three years to mature into viable grapes. Small bunches of shoots appear when the grapevine is planted in a spring season, which then has the tendency to rapidly grow in the first year. A thick trunk appears and a side cane grows using the support of a fence or wiring.

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Haitian rice that has been cultivated in the country's fertile land for last 200 years has most likely origin in West Africa. Haiti was self sufficient in rice production till the middle of 1980's, thereafter, it dropped miserably. Since the beginning of the next decade, domestic production was outpaced by import. The main responsible factor identified for falling production is lower tariff on rice import by trade liberalization policies. At 3% import tariff, it is the lowest among all other nations in the Caribbean Community- it is cheaper to import than produce. This has left many already poor rural populations jobless.

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The preliminary estimate of "Economic Accounts 2013" by Haitian Institute of Statistics and Informatics (IHSI) has revealed that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Haiti has increased in volume by 4.3% to 48%. The previous year the same increase rate in volume was by 2.3% and that was corresponded by a revised GDP growth rate of 3.4% measured in the middle of the year. The projected growth rate for 2012 was estimated at 6.5% earlier. Every sector in the country has contributed positively with additional growth towards country's GDP.

The agricultural sector has contributed additional 4.6% by value against 1.3% in 2012. The building and public works which consists the works of reconstruction of public buildings, major infrastructure and certain private sector initiatives have also added 9% more. The catering and hospitality sectors have added 5% value. Other industries, although have smaller contribution in GDP, have shown upward trend. The domestic consumption in the year 2012 was less by 5% over its previous year and that too had experienced an increase in volume by 2.8% in 2013. This was the result of foreign remittances by the migrant citizens and transfers by government to the households in cash and kind. Last year, the country enjoyed a stable business environment and the economy was further boosted by government spending.

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