The international community has collective commitment to stand with Haiti in this challenging time.
Both Haiti and hunger - in particular, assuring food security - have figured prominently in the United States foreign policy. Both illustrate the critical elevation and role of diplomacy and development that President Obama and Secretary Clinton have pursued since taking office more than a year ago. When the earthquake hit Haiti, President Obama ordered a swift, aggressive and coordinated response - and within 36 hours, Americans were on the ground in Haiti working tirelessly to save lives. Within the next hours, days and weeks, civilian and military men and women continued to arrive in Haiti to join the international community in offering emergency and humanitarian support.
Since this Administration came into office, at the request of Secretary Clinton, I have been working on our Haiti Policy and Feed the Future, our Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative. Despite my familiarity with these subjects and the possibilities that lie ahead, I am deeply saddened that the devastating earthquake in Haiti has prompted increased focus on their intersection.
The earthquake that shook Haiti on January 12, took lives and livelihoods, homes and hospitals, schools and businesses, and so much more. In addition to the incalculable human and physical losses, the earthquake threatened to rob Haiti of something more elusive -- a moment, a momentum -- what has been one of the more promising moments and positive momentum the country has enjoyed in many years. We cannot let that occur.
The relative calm that has marked the Préval Administration allowed for substantial gains in the overall physical security throughout the country. The international community responded with a donor conference in April 2009, with the naming of former President Clinton as the Special Envoy for the United Nations, and with a series of reinvigorated development plans from donors around the world.
The United States will not abandon those plans -- and urges others not to abandon their plans. Rather, we must redouble our commitment to work together with a single purpose, under a coordinated plan and under the leadership of Haiti. There is still hope in Haiti. There is still opportunity in Haiti. All you have to do is look into the eyes of the men, women and children whose resilience over the past months has inspired the world.
One of the main opportunities is the development of the agriculture sector. Work with the Government of Haiti, the United States and other international donors had identified investing in agriculture as a key mechanism to tackle poverty, the root cause of food insecurity and under-nutrition. Agriculture was affected by the earthquake -- roads and ports were destroyed and markets were and will continue to be disrupted -- but this damage can be readily repaired. Indeed, a large percent of the agriculture sector remains unaffected.
Since the earthquake struck, I have visited Haiti three times. During each of these visits, President Preval and Prime Minister Bellerive have underscored the enduring importance of agriculture. When asked last Friday what he would like to prioritize for donor investments, President Preval responded without hesitation: "infrastructure and agriculture."
Given the Government's stated goal of decentralizing the country, drawing people out of Port-au-Prince will require a robust peri-urban and rural agenda, for which agriculture must play a vital role. Bolstering employment and livelihoods in the agriculture sector, raise incomes, strengthen markets, and support the growth and purchase of nutritious food, we will enable and incentivize the long-term decentralization strategy.
There are real challenges that confront our efforts in agriculture: small farms; limited mechanization; low yields; soil erosion; limited access to agricultural inputs; scarce credit; high post-harvest losses; and poor or non-existent rural infrastructure.
The earthquake both mitigates and exacerbates these challenges. With the upcoming planting season, there will be a greater supply of farm laborers, but there may also be additional mouths to feed. The destruction of the ports means that trade has been disrupted but farmers may benefit from an increased demand for locally grown food. And though the donor community is committed to supporting Haiti with food aid, this aid must be properly targeted to avoid depressing food prices and hurting farmers.
Already, in this emergency-to-relief-to-recovery phase, the U.S. and other donors have joined together with the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture to fund important cash-for-work programs that are employing displaced people and others in rural areas outside Port-au-Prince. These workers are rehabilitating and restoring damaged agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation canals, farm-to-market roads, and vital watersheds so that they can withstand the seasonal rains and hurricanes. We are also planning to assist in providing resources for seed and fertilizer to ensure that farmers can capitalize on the planting season.
By giving people the opportunity to earn cash through productive jobs, we create the means for people to purchase what they need, stimulate the local economy and contribute to the country's long-term foundation for growth. And, by designing and implementing such programs in close cooperation with the Government of Haiti, we can help ensure that emergency efforts build local capacity rather than substitute for it. If we as donors do our job well, we can and should put ourselves out of business.
In July of last year, I had the pleasure of accompanying Haiti's Agriculture Minster, Minister Gue, on a visit to a farming community outside Port-au-Prince. In the months following this visit, a U.S.-Haitian team traveled the country between July and October, visiting farms, watersheds, markets and mills. In the end, they recommended a robust agriculture development strategy focused on three core elements: Grow More, Save More, Sell More. In the wake of the earthquake, some of Haiti's needs and priorities have changed. We will revise, not abandon, our prior commitments and goals.
As we revisit the pre-quake strategy, there are likely four new areas of investment in the agriculture sector: help rebuild the Ministry of Agriculture; increase coordination and information exchange; increase engagement with the Dominican Republic; and create jobs.
In Haiti, we have the chance to deliver something that the global community has long declared a priority: to transition from short-term interventions to addressing the underlying causes of hunger and poverty. The U.S. global hunger and food security initiative - Feed the Future - embraces this challenge, calling upon development partners to invest in country-led plans that provide a comprehensive approach to substantially and sustainably reduce hunger and poverty.
I do believe there is a bright future for Haiti. For a country of more than nine million endowed with valuable natural resources, a rich culture and history of empowerment and resilience, surrounded by peaceful and economically stable neighbors, I see every reason for optimism. If we all have the strength of but one Haitian, we will succeed.
The international community must be guided by the faith of the Haitians themselves that tomorrow will be better than today. We must seize the opportunity in agriculture in the midst this tragedy, acknowledging its renewed importance and the ability for international partners to help develop the agriculture economy. The U.S. stands ready for continued engagement with the Government of Haiti and our partners. We must get behind one plan, led by the Government of Haiti. Because as Secretary Clinton always says, "the future of Haiti, belongs to Haiti."
This weekend Cheryl Mills is attending meetings with international partners, including Minister Gue, to discuss the future of agriculture in Haiti. The meetings are being held at the headquarters of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization.
For more information, including how you can help, visit http://www.state.gov/haitiquake
To learn more about U.S. Government's work in Haiti since the earthquake read USAID Administrator Raj Shah's post. http://bit.ly/bmhdiV
Is Mills aware that President Clinton did more than any other president to destroy Haiti's then fledging ag sector when in 1994 he forced then exiled president Aristide to lower Haiti's tariffs from 30 % to ZERO for rice and poultry?!!
After the tariffs subsidized unwanted dark meat were shippedby the container to Haiti where they quickly forced the then nascent small owner operated Haitian poultry farm right out of business.
Farmers abandoned then turned to the few remaning unguarded forests surrounding them felled trees and sold the wood to middle men charcol vendors.
Deforestation destroyed soil quality, decreased crop yields and forced even more farmers into PAP to scrap a living driving moped turned motorcycles or DR in construction trades or the sugarcane plantations.
If Sec of State Clinton want to undo the damages ehr husband did to Haiti she could start by revisiting the lowered tarriffs forced upon Haiti. Increasign the tarriffs back to 30 % would put Haitian rice growers and poultry farmers on a more equal footing to compete agaisnt the cheap Miami rice that have forced them out of business into the cities.
The Dominican Republic has the largest agricultural industry in the Caribbean and exports food to Haiti. Anybody could fly to the Dominican Republic tomorrow and buy a billion dollars worth of farmland or oceanfront property and they would welcome you with open arms.
The Dominican Republic has the largest tourism industry in the Caribbean.
Fundamentally, Haiti is poor because they will not let money into the country by way of direct foreign investment. FYI - direct foreign investment into the 30 wealthiest countries increased by 20% last year. We have islands of wealth in a sea of poverty.
To each its own.
According to the World Watch Institute, between 1950 and 2000, the United States was responsible for 212 gigatons of carbon dioxide and by 2006, China's fossil fuel emissions were only 12 percent below the United States--and gaining rapidly. The richest people on the planet are appropriating more than their fair share of "environmental space."
In a globalized world, actions in one place have repercussions - economic, biophysical, sociocultural--everywhere, and into the future.
Americans need to consider to what extent our lifestyle depends on access to resources, destruction of agriculture, waste facilities, and cheap labor in other places. In particular, we need to reflect on how this dependence pushes people in developing nations to live so close the edge and take the necessary steps to decrease our consumption and hold our government - and the international financial institutions they control - accountable for their deadly policies towards countries like Haiti
This site has a really good article about it. More importantly it includes the text of Order 81 for people to read and draw their own conclusions.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=870
From the text:
‘Farmers shall be prohibited from re-using seeds of protected varieties (PVP) or any variety mentioned in items 1 and 2 of paragraph (C) of Article 14 of this Chapter.’
From the article:
The 'other' varieties referred to are any that show similar characteristics to the PVP varieties. If a corporation develops a variety resistant to a particular Iraqi pest, and somewhere in Iraq a farmer is growing another variety that does the same, it’s now illegal for him/her to save that seed.
A growing number of them, guided by their own hidden agenda, dwell on subjects they poorly understand; believing their false sense of superiority provided them all they needed to know on subject as varied as family planning, children's welfare etc.
For those who want to educate themselves on the subject of Family planning and why it failed to take roots in Haiti despite a strong desire by many Haitian men and women to have fewer children, a good read is the book by M. Catherine Maternowska, MD:
Reprodrucing Inequities: Poverty, and the politics of population in Haiti
They destroyed Hawaii and now Haiti
What is your motivation for changing the subject and what qualifies you to speak on a subject as complicated as Family planning in developing countries?
The article was about a number of topics, including poverty and hunger in Haiti. While you may not see any connection between poverty, hunger, and birth control, I do. That's why this is a forum, instead of a lecture.
For the reason above, I do not see that I was "changing the subject".
I was not speaking on "a subject as complicated as Family planning in developing countries". I was addressing what I perceive as a crucial lack over the past few decades of U.S. leadership in global population stabilization and (I hope) reduction, by peaceful means. What qualifies me? A basic understanding of the exponential equation. Once you grasp that, you understand that something, sometime, has to change.
It's time for the world to realize that the problem isn't a lack of food, or a lack of water, or a lack of energy; it is the ratio of food to people, the ratio of water to people, the ratio of energy to people.
“within 36 hours Americans were on the ground in Haiti working tirelessly to save lives.”
“We must get behind one plan”
The importance of being earnest.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-smiley/capitalist-pigs_b_425990.html
The US-style white pigs that we sent as replacements were not foragers like the black pigs, were not as hearty, and denuded the land of vegetation. There is also the issue of our forcing Haiti (at about the same time) to lower tariffs on rice importation, which led to cheap US imports destroying Haiti's rice production. Fixing these two mistakes could go a long way toward helping Haiti become self-sustaining in agriculture.
If you have little skill or cash and are optimistic about volunteering in Haiti, don't be turned off by these worldly charity organizations—flush with cash—who would rather have you believe Haiti Is not in desperate need of volunteers—that have skills none other than compassion for the poor.
As far as skill is concerned—remember that your I will is more important than your IQ. If you have the I will—then you can be a greater help to these islanders— who desire God and dignity most. A literary education is of no use, and most likely detrimental in Haiti, if it's not built on sound character.
Although Lawrence of Arabia was a British officer, he humbled his credentials and adapted to the lifestyles and habits of the bedouins. He left his money and comforts at home—in order to rise with the unique challenge at hand.
Cap Haiten, the second largest city in Haiti, 60 miles from Port AU Prince—was not damaged by the quake. There are cheap flights from Fort Lauderdale to Cap Haiten using Lynx Air.
The special requirements for the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa), even in Calcutta are: "Just show up—ready to serve the poor"
http://www.lynxair.com/specials.html