Creating Self-Sufficiency in Haiti Callie Schultes Pocahontas Area High School Population growth. Water scarcity. Tropical storms. Flooding. Resource depletion. Crime. Soil erosion. National debt. Poverty. Deforestation. Education. Health care. Child mortality rate. Malnutrition. The AIDS epidemic. Hunger. The list of Haiti‘s problems hindering food security is endless. Where do we begin? How do we give constructive aid to this suffering nation? Which issue do we address first, and how do we repair the damage? There are no miracle answers. All of these problems must be faced, but with what strategy and with what tools in our hands? I believe that education is the key. A person’s mind can be his greatest tool. The root cause of Haiti’s food insecurity is its environmental problems, brought about by the degradation of their natural resources. This problem can only be dealt with by education of the people, an asset which few Haitians currently have. The people have not been taught how to utilize what few resources they have and until they are, the vicious cycle of hunger and poverty will continue. Currently, Haiti is heavily dependent upon the United States, France, Canada, and other developed countries for its food, schools, and relief aid. In the scope of world issues, eradicating hunger is trump. World hunger holds the number one spot on the United Nations’ list of Millennium Development Goals for the 21st century. The UN, the World Bank, Bread for the World, and thousands of other non- governmental organizations are searching for solutions and working to establish food security. But with such mega numbers of hungry people, their resources are spread thin among several developing countries. A major piece of giving aid to these developing countries includes helping them become self-sustaining. The main factors preventing Haiti from becoming self-sufficient are lack of education, poverty, environmental obstacles, and political obstacles. In Haiti, all of these factors contribute to its food insecurity. Only about half of Haiti’s population is literate, and most of that half lives in urban areas. Haiti is one of the most densely populated countries in Latin America, but it has the lowest income per capita. Seventy-five percent of Haitians live below the poverty line, and about two-thirds of the population is unemployed. It is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere and one of the poorest worldwide. Growing anything in Haiti is not easy. Much of the land is mountainous, and soil erosion poses fertility problems. Finally, Haitian government is not equipped with the necessary resources to help its people. All of these factors take time to eliminate on multiple fronts, but until they are, Haitians need something to eat. We must show them new agricultural methods that can be successful in the country’s terrain and climate. Additionally, we need to show them techniques that do not contribute to the deforestation and soil erosion already prevalent in the country, but rather techniques that may even reverse the damage already done. We must help them help themselves and create an environment in which food stability is possible. Rather than giving the people of Haiti fish, we must teach them how to fish. Life in Haiti is archaic. A little over half of the population lives in rural areas. In these areas, it is extremely rare to have electricity, sanitation, or any other modern convenience. Because there is no electricity, days begin and end with the sun. There is no local government, crime prevention, legal system, or organization of any kind. Each must fend for their own. A typical rural family in Haiti is composed of a father, mother, and 2-4 children. Because parents are not legally married, it is common for the father to be absent. Men are the dominant gender and make all decisions within the family. Women are expected to perform many tasks stereotypical to the female gender: keeping house and raising children, along with some field work, if the family is wealthy enough to own any land. Near the coast, Haitians eat fish that the men catch using hollowed out logs as fishing boats. Further inland, Haitian farmers work approximately half an acre, but it is estimated that the average family requires about 3 acres to live normally, an amount of land which very few Haitian farmers have. The largest Haitian exports are mangoes and coffee, but they also raise corn and sweet potatoes. Haiti imports 48 percent of its food consumed and close to 400,000 tons of rice each year. When times are good, rural people eat rice, beans, sorghum, and milo that the women typically cook in pits heated by burning charcoal. However, when the cost of imported food doubles in just two months as it did in 2008, Haitians either go hungry or resort to “mud cakes.” These “cakes,” made of clay, salt and shortening, are formed into gray disks about the size of a man’s hand. Not only are these cakes nutrient deficient and unappetizing, but they also cost money, something which Haitians have very little of. The idea of having gourdes, the basic Haitian currency, is almost inconceivable in some rural areas. The life of the average Haitian is simple: they wake to the hot sun shining through the sticks that form their hut, spend the majority of the day bored, lying around, and fall asleep as the sun is going down. This may sound like the perfect vacation for some privileged Americans, but life in Haiti is by no means comfortable. For many of them, the day also ends with pains of hunger, in spite of the fact that they have spent their day scrounging for food. Even children join the search: eight-year-old girls can butcher a goat in as little as five minutes. Children living near aid organization bases can go to school where they receive another meal. The World Food Programme provides more than 40,000 elementary-aged Haitian children with a meal each school day in some 850 primary schools. For some of these children, the meal provided through the school will be their only food for the day. Although Christianity is the official religion of Haiti, and most schools are operated by Christian aid groups, it is estimated that over half of Haitians practice some form of voodoo, which is likely also a part of the average Haitian’s day. Agriculture in Haiti is made very difficult because of the terrain and climate. Not only is there very little arable land, but farming in Haiti can be financially risky, and it can turn into a failure over night. In 2008 alone, 4 tropical storms wiped out more than 70 percent of Haiti‘s agricultural yields, all hitting within 30 days. Hurricanes pose a threat to the agricultural base of Haiti for about 6 months each year. Unlike problems with insects, weeds, and disease, there are no chemicals farmers can spray on crops to make them “hurricane-resistant,” so these storms pose a unique obstacle. For 2009’s hurricane season, experts have predicted 7 to 11 storms to rise from the Atlantic Ocean by the end of November, with 3-6 of them reaching hurricane status. Haiti is still recovering from last year’s hurricane season and is not equipped to face another devastating season. These natural disasters make it very difficult to ensure food security in Haiti. Infrastructure needs improvement, and food and water must be stockpiled for when disaster strikes. For this year’s hurricane season, aid groups have stockpiled enough food to feed up to 1 million people for a month and a half. The World Food Programme has deposited 63 go-anywhere trucks throughout the country as well as 112 metric tons of high energy biscuits to feed groups for the first five days after a hurricane in 13 critical areas. We cannot control these natural disasters. But we can control how we respond. Hurricanes are not the only factor contributing to Haiti’s food insecurity. The island of Hispaniola, which Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, is very mountainous, and only about 29 percent of Haiti’s land is suitable for agriculture: approximately 8,000 sq. kilometers. Because of boundless deforestation in Haiti, soil erosion and natural resource degradation have occurred and successful farming is made even more difficult. Now take into the equation Haiti’s growing population of roughly 9 million, 75 percent of which live on less than $2 a day, and likely cannot afford the seeds, irrigation, pesticides, and herbicides that would make farming a profitable business. Also, many Haitians have not been taught how to farm successfully and cannot even read the label on a bag of seed. With all of these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, it is easy to understand why Haitians simply take the food given to them by aid groups and do not attempt to provide for themselves. To establish food security in this impoverished nation, citizens must be able provide for themselves. Haiti has lost more than 98 percent of its natural forest. Deforestation has several adverse effects. Not only does it contribute to global warming, but it disrupts rain patterns, so that some areas do not receive sufficient rain for agriculture. Also, because there is very little vegetation, there is nothing to absorb rainfall. Rainwater tumbles down the mountainside without obstruction, eroding the soil, and enters cities, where flooding and catastrophe ensues, or straight into the ocean, where the soil is lost forever. Whichever occurs, aquifer water supplies are not replenished and drought results, making agriculture very challenging. As water table levels are going down, population and demand for clean water is going up.