Introduction
Haiti was the richest colony in the whole world but today it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and it is faced with many poverty-related challenges. The saddening bit of this revelation is that most of Haiti’s woes are human induced. The country is mostly manipulated by powerful individuals from within and outside. In the last two to three years, Haiti has been having a severe food crisis characterized by high food prices. In early 2008, protests against the high food prices broke out in Haitian Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes, leading to the death of a number of protestors, destruction of property and extensive public unrest (Corbett 1986, p. 1).
Causes of food crisis and riots in Haiti
The soaring food prices in Haiti in early 2008 were the primary trigger of the protests that took place. The cost of basic foodstuffs, most of them imported, had increased by about 50% rendering most of Haitian population, who live in abject poverty, incapable of feeding themselves. The Haitian government is characterized by being ridiculously broke, having a high rate of inflation, rampant corruption evident in drug trafficking though Haitian ports etc.Haiti has also experienced decades of dictatorial leadership, economic stagnation and military rule (Laine 2008, p. 1). Preval responded to this by subsidizing imported rice; an action that had an adverse effect on local rice production. The long term effect was that, imported rice became expensive while the volume of local rice production reduced significantly. Realizing the impact of his decision, Preval promised to support local agricultural production by providing certain specific incentives like cutting down the price of fertilizer with the Help of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. These reactions from Preval indicate the root cause of the food crisis Haiti: that the acute food shortage is as a result of the government’s laxity in providing incentives that support local agricultural production (Lindsay 2008, p. 1). Another factor that fuels the food crisis in Haiti is the income disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Haiti is rated as the second in income disparity after Namibia. The rich do not care much about the welfare of the poor and policies are made to favor the rich while oppressing the poor. This can be proved by the fact that Haiti used to be the gold mine of its colonizers France in terms of Agricultural production. The food crisis and the resulting riots can also be attributed partly to the international community. Haiti is said to have lost its food sovereignty due to excessive control masqueraded as neoliberal concern and conditioned during foreign debt negotiations (Schuller 2008, p. 1).
The food riots
Haiti has been faced with a lot of poverty-related protests in the recent past. In April 2008, their protests over high food prices made newspaper headlines all over the world. The protests led to destruction of a lot of property and had a considerable tarnishing effect on the image of the Haitian government. Protesters tried to break into the presidential palace demanding the stepping down of their former president, Rene Preval where they were countered by United Nations peacekeepers with rubber bullets and tear gas. They smashed windows, looted shops, set up barricades in roads and burnt vehicles while protesting high food prices. They also used the food and fuel crisis as a scapegoat to express their agitation towards some political leaders and in trying to force the president to make political decisions in their favor (Ryan 2008, p. 1). The food riots in Haiti have subsided and prices gone down but the crisis still persists. The country depends on food imports and there is a great need for proper national planning especially in regard to local agricultural production (Darren 2009, p. 1).
Solutions to the food crisis in Haiti
The best solution to the food crisis in Haiti lies neither in imported food nor foreign food aid. The Haitian government should invest heavily in local agricultural production while at the same time trying to salvage the starving part of its population. The government should ensure that it uses the little resources at their disposal to keenly rejuvenate the country’s agricultural sector, particularly the production of rice. Three decades ago, Haiti was producing all the rice that it consumed. The situation was changed by its political instability and, as stated above, the growing of rice locally was affected by cheap rice from the United States (Whalen 2008, p. 1). This shows that Haiti has the potential of feeding its people if local agricultural production can be carefully planned for and supported. The use of funds from foreign aid to subsidize local agricultural production is a good place to start. The fertilizer aid they normally get from Venezuela is also a big plus (Schaaf 2009, p. 1).
Conclusion
In the contemporary society, it is a shame for such an alarming percentage, as more than 80% of the total population, to be living in abject poverty. The Haitian government needs to collaborate with international well wishers to solve this food problem for good.
Reference list
Corbett, B, (1986), “Why is Haiti so poor”. Web.
Darren, G, (2009), “Haiti food crisis”, Jubilee USA. Web.
Laine, C, (2008), “News: Food Riots in Haiti”, AIDG. Web.
Lindsay, R, (2008), “Inside Haiti’s food riots”, Aljazeera. Web.
Ryan, O, (2008), “Food riots grip Haiti”, Guardian Weekly.
Schaaf, B, (2009), “Haiti food security update”, Haiti Innovation. Web.
Schuller, M, (2008), “Haitian Food Riots Unnerving but Not Surprising”.
Whalen, N, (2008), “HAITI: Food Crisis Sparks Anger and Despair”, IPS. Web.