Farming - Haiti Observer Blog

Charlie Bowen is a resident of Maryville. For the past three years, he has been raising his family using products from hydroponics. Hydroponics is a water-based method of producing some farm products. However, currently he is trying to get into aquaponics. Aquaponic is hydroponics combined with fish farming. It has a mutual benefit to both the fish and the farm products. They help each other while growing, since fish will provide the manure while the plants give fish food.

Lonia is an adopted daughter of Bowen, from Haiti. She comes from a family of four in Haiti, and she is the inspiration for Bowen to start aquaponics. Bowen and his wife Teresa adopted Lonia when she was 11 months old when a medical condition that she had meant that she couldn't live with her family. Therefore, Bowen adopted her so that she could receive medical treatment in Maryville.

Read more →  

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.

Read more →  

The National Coordination of Food Security (CNSA) has projected, based on figures generated up to the present, the 2013-2014 agricultural year is expected to be a good year in Haitian Agriculture. So far the cereal crop has increased as much as 33% over the 2012-2013 season, with some estimates placing the increase as high as 45%. However the yields fall 11% below the 2009-2010 season. Generally, for fiscal year 2012-2013 the crop yields were good, except for October because of Hurricane Sandy.

Spring-summer harvests are the largest of the year, when 75% of growers produce crop yields of corn, beans, peas, bananas, and tubers. The yields were especially good for 2013-2014. This was due to the urgings of the Ede Pèp Program.

Read more →  

On a recent visit to Cornillon, a town in the west department district of Croix-des-Bouquets, the Haitian head of state, President Michel Martelly made gifts to the long-standing town. On the occasion of their 125th anniversary, the residents of Cornillon were treated to a distribution of agricultural equipment from their president, one of whose mandates is the advancement of the Haitian agricultural sector.

The tools were given to local farmers who make their living farming cash crops such as coffee and fruit. As such, his stated intent was to assist them in making more bountiful harvests. However, as it stands, even with these new tools, farmers in the community of Cornillon still find it hard to eke out subsistence because of other, chronic problems plaguing the area.

Read more →  

Bellevue la Montagne is located in region Ouest, Haiti. It is a small place with a very small population that survives under inexplicable poverty. People in Bellevue la Montagne are live examples of what we say, 'life goes on and you just live.' Yes, they just live! La Montagne means 'The Mountain' in French. This explains the geographic location of Bellevue la Montagne which stands at 3000 feet elevation from the coast.

Bellevue la Montagne consists of 3 small villages which include Belleu, Terra Rouge and Le Croix. Living in ultimate poverty, the main livelihood for the people of Bellevue la Montagne is farming. Because of shortage of electricity, water and irrigation facilities, agriculture produces just enough for the farmers to feed their families and if they are lucky, they will have some extra produce that they can sell in local market. There is only one school in Bellevue la Montagne that is located at a distance of 1-1/2 hours and children need to spend 3 hours every day to walking up and down to their school. Only those children go to school whose parents can afford $25 a year.

Read about more Haitian cities and towns....

Read more →  

Jean Dominique spent his early career first educating farmers on how to be self-sufficient under the thumb of wealthy land-owners. He then went on to making two notable firsts in the broadcasting world, opening the first film club in Haiti as well as Radio Haiti, the first station to broadcast in Creole. He went on to have multiple run-ins with the Duvalier regiments and was exiled in New York until his return in the mid 80's when he became a member of the Lavalas party which won the 1990 election.

Read more →  

Haiti is experiencing an imminent food crisis, which has at its core the destruction of rice farming. The agricultural sector of Haiti, made up of subsistence farmers, cannot compete in an international market overrun with poor quality imports, especially rice, Haiti's number one staple.

Back in the 1970s, rice cultivation was a thriving industry, requiring no foreign imports to meet domestic needs. But that changed at the start of the 1990s. An attempted coup against then-President Aristide set off global trade embargos, stifling Haiti's export market. At this juncture, cheap imports from abroad came in droves. Haiti, a desperately poor country, has needed development banks' aid. They drove a hard bargain, enforcing a lower import tariff, from 50% to 3%. This negatively impacted the economy, because it became more affordable to import U.S. rice than to farm it domestically.

Read more →  

Saint-Jean-du-Sud, a cityship in the Port-Salut Arrondissement, under the Sud Department of Haiti, is home to 23,870 inhabitants. Located at sea level, it lies on the southern-most tip of the Tiburon Peninsula near its western end. Three divisions make up Saint-Jean-du-Sud: Debouchette, Tapion, and Trichet. A cluster of villages lies close by Saint-Jean-du-Sud: Coateaux, La Ferme, Durant, Bel Air, and Petite Riviere.

Farming is one of the primary income-generators of the small village of Saint-Jean-du-Sud, with bananas and pineapples producing the largest crop-yields. The farming community is close-knit, sharing resources among themselves to derive higher incomes. Another source of income for the village is fishing and the operation of fish hatcheries.

Read more →  

Agriculture is Haiti's most important but under-utilized resource. Not enough has been done to increase crop yields or exports in the world market. But a sustainability movement has started in some parts of the country, creating The Center for Rural Sustainable Development (CRSD), launched in Kenscoff. Present for the ribbon-cutting ceremony were Agriculture Ministers and Pamela White, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti.

The center will be operated by University of Florida sustainability experts, who will instruct farmers on greenhouse, drip irrigation, and vertical farming practices. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has underwritten the project. Conceived as a modern teaching facility, instructors will show farmers best practices for green farming. They will teach them how to grow different crop types, operate the latest farm equipment, and become responsible stewards of the environment.

Read more →  

The town of Beaumont is located in Corail Arrondissement in Haiti's Grand'Anse department, deep in Haiti's Southern mountains. Haiti's President Michel Martelly went on a visit to Beaumont to look at how people live and how their living conditions can be improved. President Martelly plans to put more industries and population in the rural area so as to develop it. He believes that agriculture will improve Haiti. He thus thought of introducing production of yams, bananas and cassavas.

Production of yams, bananas and cassavas will greatly develop Beaumont in terms of creating jobs opportunities and also will improve Beaumont's economy. If the people of Beaumont agree to move from the urban areas and settle in the rural area where they will engage in farming, Beaumont will greatly develop and their living conditions will improve. Poverty is one of the greatest challenges facing Haiti and since there is enough land but people lack ideas on how to use it, President Michel thought of giving them the idea. The president was ready to support that farming if the people of Haiti were willing to develop.

Read more →