By Bryan Schaaf on Sunday, February 3, 2008.
I have seen several articles lately concerning the clay biscuits that the poorest of the poor in Haiti eat to make the hunger pangs subside. This is not a new phenomenon. Much of that clay comes from an area in between Hinche and Thomonde, where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. We all know Haiti is desperately food insecure, but with hunger being such a complicated issue, do we know what to do in order to respond? What would a Haitian “war against hunger” be like?
The primary responsibility for meeting the needs of the Haitian people rests with its government. No government has declared the prevention of hunger as its highest priority – this one can be the first if it so desires. Even without substantial resources, the government can and should develop an ambitious, actionable plan. The health, stability, and growth of the country depends on it. There are many ways to come at the problem. The government should communicate its priorities and work closely with partners to meet them.
Let’s start with the premise that to fight hunger in Haiti, the country must be able to feed itself. If we can agree on that, it is clear that Haiti needs an agricultural revolution. I am no agronomist, but as dry as some parts of Haiti have become, I would want to learn from countries that have painstakingly turned desert into productive land through various forms of irrigation. Egypt comes to mind. Perhaps study tours and exchanges of government officials could be arranged. There may be types of crops that are suited to arid environments - if so they are needed.
Doing so will require halting, and eventually reversing, the environmental damage caused by deforestation and erosion. Any plan must address this fact - the majority of the country is still using word charcoal for cooking. The Dominican Republic has chosen to subsidize propane and Haiti could initiate a similar program - though the subsidies would need to be considerably more than in the Dominican Republic where consumers have more purchasing power.
Continued electrification of the country, all of it, would be an asset. Electricity could be purchased from the Dominican Republic, hopefully at a reasonable rate. Strategic use of alternate forms of energy such as solar power, wind power, and bio-fuels hold promise. We wish the Peligre Dam didn’t exist due to the damage and displacement is has caused. However, it is there and is in great need of modernization. Ultimately, it is up to the government to decide which of these options are viable.
Civil society has a role in addressing pressure on the land. Unfortunately, Haiti uses the Napoleonic Land System where property is passed on to the sons of each family. When each generation has a large family, it doesn’t take long before parcels of land become so small that it is hard to make a living as a farmer particularly if the land is eroding. Cooperation may be the answer, through agricultural cooperatives that pool land and resources. This cannot and should not be mandated by the government. It is up to communities to decide if and when collective agriculture will work. Sometimes I wonder if today's problems stem in part from straying from the country's communcal roots, when the norm was for yards (Lakou) and land (Konbit) to be shared. Maybe the past holds the answer?
If the cultivation of Jatropha as a biofuel becomes a means to meet national energy needs and a profitable crop for export, this will open up opportunities for large scale production through cooperatives. This could be a key innovation for revitalizing Haiti’s agricultural sector.
Haiti has been hungry for too long and as a result the country is not as healthy, productive, or as stable as it has the potential to be. A social researcher named Maslow developed a “Hierarchy of Needs” which basically states that a person’s first priority is to meet their physical needs – food, water, shelter. After these needs are met, a person’s priority becomes security. Then a person becomes concerned with love and belonging. After, a person focused on esteem needs – having self respect and being respected by others. Finally, and only once these other needs have been attained (continuously), can a person focus on self-actualization – fulfilling one’s true potential and purpose in life.
Is it the whole picture? No, it is a bit simplistic. I’ve met many Haitians who were hungry and always put the needs of friends and family above their own. If going hungry to meet the needs of friends does not represent love, then I don’t know what does. But there is value in this model. I think we can apply it to development schemes. Does it make sense to discuss democracy promotion with a person who does not know where his or her next meal is coming from? Or who lives in a slum that has no police presence? Stability in a country depends on individuals, families, and communities being able to meet thier basic needs of which food is one.
It pains me that Haiti remains a hungry country, more so each year. Small ideas and patchwork plans are not going to turn the situation around. There has to be a time where the Haitian government and all its partners – civil society, donor governments, international organizations, firmly state that the war against hunger has begun. We would like to suggest that time is now - this is something that all of us can believe in and participate in. Welcome your thoughts.
Bryan
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Helping Feed Children in Haiti
I am so grateful for this webpage which provides such great context for the structural issues. I am in regular contact with a woman who has been in Haiti for 10 years and feeds children. The problem is that with the rise in cost, she has not been able to feed all the children she could since she lacks the resources. So my children had a lemonade stand, raised $40 and we were able to send her 55 pounds of beans through this website: https://www.unitransfer.com/. If you are interested in donating to a person on the ground and not just an organization (which is equally good)- please contact me through my facebook page and I can give you more information. Every little bit helps. And I am convinced what should be done, can be done, with the will to make it so! If you'd like, please also visit the Facebook Cause page "Feeding Children in Haiti" at the following link where you can join the cause and make a monetary contribution that will go directly to Elsie in Haiti to help feed these children: https://www.causes.com/fb/donations/new?cause_id=97451&fp=930d7&fundrais...
man i wanna help out u guys
man i wanna help out u guys cuz im half haitian
Fighting Hunger
If you had twenty dollars to give, I would probably advise giving half of it to an organization like the World Food Programme to make sure the most vulnerable are eating now and the rest on an NGO that works on environmental an agricultural issues to make sure they won't be hungry later. If you read through the blogs, you'll see there are quite a few doing good work. Let me know if you have questions!
how can we help
Do we have servicemen in Haiti who could help us distribute monies for food? Helping one family at a time. Can these people receive mail? How to get a real address? How to get a real U.S. service person?
If you have any ideas, please let me know.
Dee
The government does have a
The government does have a history of corruption, but this is not suprising. The international community has subverted democracy in Haiti for generations and this does not go away overnight, particularly considering the extent of Haiti's brain drain. But that having been said, things are changing. The current government is the most accountable administration in a long time. It maintains good relations with the DR, the USA, Cuba, Brazil, and other regional players. Above all, this administration needs a strategy so that the world knows how Haiti will address environment degradation, and by extention, how its partners can help. Deforestation, food security, and health are inter-connected but it all comes down to the environment. If you read through the site, youll learn about the heroic efforts of small and committed organizations working in this sector. Until the government has the capacity and will to respond, your support of these organizations is greatly appreciated.
Haiti & Hunger
I read and article about people literally eating mud for food in Haiti. I have been interested in helping ever since. I really appreciate your thoughts as I have pondered as well "what would it take?" Unfortunately it sounds like the government is corrupt and uncaring. As I peruse the different organizations out there helping it is hard to know who to support and what to do. Is there any way to contribute to something that is sustainable, you know teach a man to fish rather than giving him a fish. But the need is immediate as the morgues continue to fill up with young children succumbing to starvation. I think people need to go over there even if its just for a week. Find an organization to volunteer for and see the situation first hand. Or find people who have gone and pick their brains then start to send money, write letters and inform others.
More thoughts on Hait's hunger crisis
Greetings, I just returned from an agricultural mission in the Les Cayes area (SW). While this area may not be as destitute as some, there is plenty of poverty and hunger, especially in rural areas. Our mission was in support of the local S.E.E.D. Agriculture University run by Frantz Coltaire. The S.E.E.D Mission is "To train motivated young people to help this land of malnourished people raise improved vegetable and fruit crops, and to raise better livestock… so that they might teach others -and prosper." After spending a week with the Coltaires, offering seminars in Nutrition Chemistry, Applied Nutrition and Goat Husbandry, I came away with a very clear sense of the following notion: Agricultural Revolution, marked by a shift from hand labor to machine farming, and from subsistence to commercial agriculture, triggers Industrial Revolution (For the USA – 1860-1910).
This wonderful and ever-so-poor country is at the very beginning of it’s Agricultural Revolution.
Where will they be in a hundred years? Haiti's government-run Agriculture Department has taken notice of the Coltaire's work. It's a powerful model that could be used throughout the country. I believe this is an encouraging time for Haiti.
Fighting Hunger in Haiti
If you read through the blogs, you'll find there a number of very good organizations in Haiti fighting hunger through different approaches such as Project Medishare, Haiti Micah Project, and others. We encourage you to support them in their efforts to build a better Haiti. Thanks for being involved!
We saw an article a few
We saw an article a few weeks ago concerning the poor in Hati. This article show a woman making clay cookies. We were very moved by this situationa nd we would like to provide some assistance. Has there been a fund established for this or is there a contact. We are interested in a referral.
this is unreal
we in america need to come to the add of the third world....Haiti is the worlds worst living conditions and now economically being crunched to the point of breaking.....get involved....now
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