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.