#4148: Produce our own food/Food security aspect : A comment (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:PPARYSKI@aol.com

After having analyzed the question of food production and the environment for 
a number of years, I have come to the following conclusions

1. Shirley Jean's observations are accurate and entirely appropriate (#4111);
2. Haiti's environment is so degraded that food production cannot hope to 
increase without drastic measures by individuals, the government and the 
private sector.  More than 1500 ha of arable land are lost to erosion each 
year and  the remaining soils are being depleted by erosion and bad farming 
techniques which ironnically are the only way peasants can survive;  A major 
environmental rehabilitation programme is an absolute necessarry.
3. Modern industrial agriculture could increase food production, but would 
have a very negative impact on peasant society.  Land would have to be 
assembled in very large farms, while the average peasant farms less than i 
ha.  Peasants would have to be relocated and absorbed in other sectors, a 
major political choic (Henry Christophe adopted this strategy.)
4. Peasants could produce highly marketable niche crops such as spices, 
organic produce and tropical fruits which are highly sought after in 
international markets.  This would necessitate govt assistance.
5. One cannot be romantic or blindly nationalistic when people's lives are at 
stake.  Feeding Haiti's population is a serious problem especially 
considering the fact that Haiti's natural resource base is not sufficient for 
such a daunting task.

I believe that I made some of these comments before and hope that Corbetters 
will search for real and practical solutions to Haiti's problems.  Rhetoric 
and abstract discussion have been one of the obstacles to Haiti's development 
and political maturity.

Paul Paryski