Haiti – two years after the catastrophe

Haiti wasn’t always “the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere”, though it is almost impossible to read about the country today without coming across that phrase. In the two (2) years since the devastating earthquake, Haiti has experienced political conflict and its first ever cholera epidemic; hundreds of thousands of the displaced are still living in make-shift tents strewn like dusty flags along the sides of highways. It is easy to forget that, for most of the 19th century, the country was a site of agricultural innovation, productivity and economic success.

In the wake of the earthquake, many have talked of the need to lay foundations for a better future. To do so, Haiti should look to the past, and the system of small farms and the decentralized economy that once provided its citizens with dignity, autonomy and wealth.

The slave revolution that ended with Haiti’s creation in 1804 led to what the sociologist John Casimir dubbed a “counter-plantation” system. As slaves, the islanders has produced and harvested sugar cane, but fed themselves by cultivating their own tiny gardens, for which they developed sophisticated techniques of inter-cropping – a kind of sustainable agriculture that involved planting a variety of crops close together. Once free, Haitian’s drew on that knowledge to raise livestock and grew fruits, root vegetables and even coffee for export to the global market. In establishing their own small farms, they forestalled any possibility of a return to the large plantations that had defined the days of slavery.

This system of agricultural self-reliance provided a better quality of life than that of other African descendants anywhere else in the Americas. The country attracted many immigrants, including thousands of Africans- Americans especially from the southern states of the United States. And though the United States government did not officially recognise Haiti until 1862, American business men eagerly traded with the island nation.

Haiti’s economy was decentralised, organised around 11 largely autonomous regions, each with its own port. There was plenty of conflict in the country, largely over control of the central government, and heavy taxes on exports, as well as the power of foreign merchants who sapped the profits of farmers. Yet the regional economies thrived, and a decentralised political and military system assured many Haitians a great deal of control over their destiny.

In the 20th Century, however, this system came under increasing pressure. Outsiders, along with many in the Haitian elite, saw small farmers as a barrier to progress. When the United States occupied the country from 1915-1934, it worked to centralise the economy in Port-au-Prince. It pushed through a re-writing of the country’s constitution to allow foreigners to own land, which the founding parents had banned for fear of re-enslavement, and worked to replace small farms with large plantations owned by foreign corporations. Many farmers saw their land expropriated.

When the countryside erupted in revolt against the occupation and the use of forced labour to build roads, the US created a newly centralised gendarmerie to suppress the insurrection. Violence and the economic decline in the countryside forced many Haitians to flee to the cities or to plantations in neighbouring Dominican Republic and Cuba. In the years since, the countryside has continued to experience environmental and economic degradation as well as exodus, while the big cities, especially Port-au-Prince, have become overcrowded. Today about half of Haiti’s food is imported.

The flow of ideas and money to Haiti that followed the earthquake provides an opportunity to restore the system of small farms formerly a pillar of Haiti’s society after independence. Michel Martelly, the new President, has talked of the need to decentralise the economy, and governmental organisations have begun projects to help farmers. But much more can be done.

Municipal governments should construct properly equipped market places for those who sell rural produce, especially the women. The State should develop trade policies aimed at protecting the agricultural sector, and take the lead in fixing roads and ports, confronting deforestation and improving systems of water management. Foreign organisations working in the country can help simply by making it a policy to buy food and other goods from local producers.

The return on the investment in the rural economy would be self reliance, the alleviation of dangerous overcrowding in cities and most importantly, a path towards ending Haiti’s new chronic problems of malnutrition and food insecurity. As Haitians look to rebuild in 2012, the best blue prints will come from their own proud and vibrant history.