9445: RE: 9422: Open Discussion

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: NLaleau@aol.com
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You are likely to get more answers to this question than you 
want... yes more food can definitely be grown on the island, but only with 
more infrastructure (irrigation canals, wells, roads, agronomic advice)
and 
change in land tenure patterns. A lot of the island that used to be 
productive is now barren and deforested. The South is still pretty lush,
but 
the Northwest is a desert, and  while parts of the Artibonite are
excellent, 
others are horrible ("Savane Desolee", for example). In some places the
water 
table and salinity are a problem. Fights over land titles
occur--sometimes 
parcels were sold many times with "legal" documents accompanying each
sale.  
Some good  land lies fallow, owned  by absentee landlords. So  it's not an 
easy problem to fix.  --Nancy Laleau