#5013: A Little History of the Pig Issue in Haitian History (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: RIWILSON <RIWilson@maf.org>

     I asked a Haitian friend, Jerome Prinston (Director of the Christian 
     University at Christianville, Haiti) about the pig killing in Haiti a 
     few years ago.  This is his answer.
     
     "Richard,
     I don't know a lot about the pig issue, but I know that the facts 
     about that subject have been interpreted from various political, 
     religious, and cultural perspectives, and that with different levels 
     of passion and sentiments. The bare facts were: The African swine 
     fever was indeed a reality and would have possibly caused the 
     decimation of the pig population soon or later; the slaughter of the 
     pigs did take place as part of a government program called PEPPADEP 
     (?); the efforts to replace the slaughtered pigs by healthy imported 
     breeds did also take place (I know of several missions who helped 
     distribute these pigs to local farmers); the integration of these 
     imported breeds into the Haitian environment has been rather difficult 
     because the habits of these imported pigs made it more expensive for 
     farmers to keep them. For example, whereby the indigenous pigs were 
     more like scavengers and would eat just about anything, the imported 
     pigs wouldn't. Hope that gives some elements of answers. jp"