22980: jedidiah on farming (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: J.David Lyall <postmaster@lyalls.net>

Village,
So, I've been in the usa for a few months now and have been
reflecting on simple things that could be done in  hayti. With a
little good faith, of  course. Farming is one  thing that I've been
thinking of again.

Sweet corn is all over the  usa but is unknown in hayti. This would
be a very popular crop and profitable for small farmers. Or large
farmers. Cane lands could be converted to sweet maize easily. The
seed would need to be purchased. It is probably a hybrid and  would
need to be bought each season. I am just guessing here, but think
that is probably correct. You can buy ears of roasted maize/corn on
the street in hayti, cooked on a hibachi. It is very chewy. Tough,
actually. Reasonably popular tho. Real sweet corn/maize would be a
treat.

I've heard  advertizements on the  radio here in  kalifornya for
coconut mulch. Organic coconut mulch. For gardening. Hayti is
importing coconuts from  the Dominican Republic these days because so
many cocoye trees have been harvested for lumber. And then not
replaced, of course. There are people tending mango plantations, and
plenty of land not in productive use. Cocoye plantations for food or
oil would produce lots and lots of waste from the  husk. Those husks
can be burned as fuel (as was noted last year by Thor) or, now,
turned into mulch for export. Cocoye oil is actually perfect
feedstock for biodiesel.

Tomato products are imported from the DR in great quantities. Taking
the bus to Santo Domingo in 2003 I saw large fields being leveled
just a few kilometers over the border, irrigation pipes being sunk,
etc. Probably to grow tomatoes. No commercial tomato growing is
evident anywhere that I have seen in hayti. Tomato crops take water
supplies for irrigation and transport links, both large investments
in social infrastructure. That is a short term negative.

Coconut is a much more  durable crop which would require far less
investment. It would take longer to get a commercial crop of course.

How about Cashews? THere are cashews in the north somewhere. I've
seen them in the markets. Noir du Nord. I do not know what a cashew
tree looks like. I  do know that in east africa it was planted thru
the coastal forest and left wild, relying on villagers to harvest it,
bringing the crop to a processing plant during the season.  So, it
doesn't take much care once mature. Almost all of the cashews on the
usa market are from the Indian Ocean islands. Plantations in comoros
or french islands. The prices in hayti of imported usa processed
cashews (grown off the  east african coast) are basically the same as
local haytian cashews. So, this could be a very profitable crop if a
way could be found to get production up. Certainly lots of land is
wasted on antique cane for local kleren.

I'm sure that many haitian/americans on the list here still own land
in haiti which is not in actual use. Someday farming will need to be
done again back in the pearl. Is it time to get going again?
-- 
J. David Lyall
http://www.lyalls.net/