There is a lot of potential. There are a number of different jatropha pilot projects being carried out in Haiti. They could all be scaled up if the demand existed and it could be done in a way that would not displace food crops like corn has been doing. The government has been interested but I dont see them providing leadership so much as helping to create an environment conducive to investments by Diaspora and other interested parties. Perhaps after a new Prime Minister is confirmed, we'll see progress on that front.

The Haitian economy is not suffering from a lack of food but rather a lack of goudes to purchase the food. Bio-fuels is an interesting economic thought and would clearly be put to the test in the mountains above Marchand Dessalines, Gonaives, and others.
How does one become directly involved in this project to the level of actually working in the country itself among the people to help this occur? We have been seeking an alternative occupation for years in our desires to assist the people of Haiti; are there occupational potentials in this field?

There is one factor here that people seem to be missing: much of Haiti's soil is so degraded that no food truly can grow on it. Jatropha does not require nutrient rich soil and in fact grows very well on nutrient-poor, arid soil. Because it is a perennial, the continued growth of the plant can actually begin to enrich the soil so that food CAN be grown on it, maybe through multicropping or shade gardens. Or, if after three years the jatropha still does not have a good market or the people do not have a good product, at least at the end they could cut down the bushes and be left with soil that has enough nutrients in it to grow something they can really eat.

It seems absolutely ludicrous to use any of the agricultural resources in Haiti for biofuels when people there are literally eating dirt because food it too expensive and scarce.

Though imports have traditionally allowed people to keep a few more gourdes in their pocket, the long term effect has been the withering of national agricultural capacity. In terms of fuel or food it is not either/or. The utterly indedible jatropha plant, for example, can be planted with food crops. It even keeps animals away. Land could be used for dual purpose planting. Dual use is not unheard of for food crops. Planting coffee under fruit trees for examples. In this case, a fuel crop and a food crop together. Thoughts?

no, using ag resources at all for fuel defeats the purpose of what haiti needs now, food, food, food...and why, when labor is SO cheap in Haiti can't the country grow its own (US dumping killed plenty of markets like rice, eg).

then the price undercutting of eggs and chickens... (and US producers get
all kinds of incentives, subsidies etc.) the peasant farmer just gets f'ed and
the madam sara goes to wanamet, crosses the DR border, to buy her eggs for PAP...what is that???

Would you be willing to consider biofuels if Haiti adopted a policy of only using non-food crops such as jatropha? This is an option, and a sensible one considerintg how food insecure Haiti is.

While some folks see biofuels as a source of energy for Haiti, others see it
as a misuse of agricultural resources. At the recent congress of peasants at MPP, Mouvment Peasant Papaye near Hinch another level of consciousness
was apparent.

Why can't Haiti grow FOOD to feed its people? The message from the congress and at a demonstration (when 5,000 walked from MPP's headquarters in Papaye to Hinch) was...Say NO to biofuels! Say YES to local production for local consumption.

In other words...food for Haitian stomachs NOT food for American automobiles.