shada - Haiti Observer Blog

During WWII when the Axis Powers managed to cut off the Eastern rubber supply, the then Haitian President, Elie Lescot proposed an ambitious to USA. He proposed to rapidly increase the rubber production during the war period in the countryside of Haiti. $5 million was granted by Washington's Export-Import Bank in 1941 so that rubber plantation can be developed in Haiti. This ambitious program was named at Société Haïtiano-Américane de Développement Agricole or SHADA. Thomas Fennell, an American agronomist managed the SHADA program.

Using US military support, Lescot administration cleared 47,177 acres of land by 1943 with the purpose of planting high latex-yielding cryptostegia vine. Over time, 100,000 hectares of land were claimed by the SHADA project. During this period, Elie Lescot campaigned and sold people the idea that SHADA will only improve and modernize agriculture in Haiti. However, Haitian families were forcibly removed from arable lands and nearly a million trees capable of bearing fruit were cut down.

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