22981: Durban: Further to Jedidiah on Farming (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

Jedidiah's post #22980 on agriculture had some interesting
ideas, and I took the liberty of forwarding it to a friend with
plenty of experience in the Haitian agricultural sector.
Although he is no longer in Haiti, here is his feedback....


Lance,

Good to hear from you. These farming ideas are basically good.
I like the corn idea. When we were working with the irridgation
scheme near Miragoine, I suggested that part of the land be used
for off-season corn production to be used in the maïs boucané
trade. I even asked one of the Texaco Star Market owners if he
was interested in marketing maïs boucané.  Well, the irrigation
scheme did not materialize, so, we did not get to push this
idea.

Tomato is a good crop already with the little sauce-style
tomatoes grown just to the north of PauP. There is room for some
one growing big salad-style tomatoes and marketing them through
the supermarkets.

Coconut is a wonderful idea as an addition to Haitian multicrop
gardens and lakou. I tried to get our group to import the hybrid
seed from Jamaica at one time, but, could not get enough
support.  I would hope that somebody operating a nursery would
work with a public-oriented firm or group to make it happen.
What I would suggest is for an advertisement campaign to have
individuals or groups sign-up to purchase part of a shipment of
the hybrid seed. Once the shipment had been fully subscribed, it
could be brought in and distributed. This could happen repeated
over and over.

I don't believe that anyone will plant coconuts in plantation
style arrangements because of the pressure on land in Haiti.

Ah there are many things to do if only Haiti had a culture that
allowed/supported larger-scale farms.