Right to Livelihoods in Haiti
Focus on egg production and rural household livelihood strategies
Focus on egg production and rural household livelihood strategies
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14<br />
Importance of Understand the Adaptability of Rural <strong>Haiti</strong>an Livelihood Strategies<br />
What we see <strong>in</strong> household livelihood strategies and the rural market system described above are patterns<br />
and relationships sometimes difficult for development practitioners who have not lived and worked <strong>in</strong> the<br />
region <strong>to</strong> fully grasp. An exam<strong>in</strong>ation of local livelihood strategies among the majority of farmers <strong>in</strong> rural<br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>, particularly those who do not have access <strong>to</strong> illicit bus<strong>in</strong>ess opportunities or relatives <strong>in</strong> Miami,<br />
suggests they differ little from those practiced dur<strong>in</strong>g the pre-Columbian and buccaneer eras 350 <strong>to</strong> 500<br />
years <strong>in</strong> the past and are far less technologically and organizationally complex than those that prevailed<br />
dur<strong>in</strong>g the colonial epoch. The anachronistic character and tenacity with which people all over <strong>Haiti</strong> cl<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>to</strong> these strategies and their resistance <strong>to</strong> adopt<strong>in</strong>g or ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g new material and organizational<br />
technologies is a major impediment <strong>to</strong> the success of most programs f<strong>in</strong>anced by <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />
development agencies. It confounds foreign development workers and corporate <strong>in</strong>ves<strong>to</strong>rs who come <strong>to</strong><br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>. Yet, from the perspective of adaptation <strong>to</strong> crisis the system is em<strong>in</strong>ently logical.<br />
Adapted over the past 209 years of <strong>in</strong>dependence <strong>to</strong> periodic droughts that occur on average one <strong>in</strong> every<br />
eight years; the 25 wars and upris<strong>in</strong>gs and 60 years of <strong>in</strong>ternational trade embargoes that occurred dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the 1800s, a trend that cont<strong>in</strong>ued through the 20th century with an equal number of violent<br />
conflagrations, civil unrest, revolution, and more embargoes <strong>to</strong> the first tumultuous 15 years of the 21st<br />
century, <strong>Haiti</strong>ans are stuck on an island surrounded on three sides by water and one side by a neighbor<br />
(the Dom<strong>in</strong>icans) who 78 years ago, under the <strong>in</strong>fluence of a despotic dicta<strong>to</strong>r dispatched convicts <strong>to</strong><br />
massacre, with blades and <strong>in</strong> the space of three days, 25,000 of those ethnic <strong>Haiti</strong>ans liv<strong>in</strong>g on their side<br />
of the border. The rural population has had little choice but <strong>to</strong> adapt. They have done so by cultivat<strong>in</strong>g<br />
dependency on those forces they can control: the technologically simple, <strong>in</strong>tegrated production,<br />
process<strong>in</strong>g, and market<strong>in</strong>g strategies seen above. xxiii<br />
In this way rural <strong>Haiti</strong>an household livelihoods can be conceptualized as survival-oriented strategies that<br />
l<strong>in</strong>k household, communities and ecological zones through the rotat<strong>in</strong>g market system, and <strong>in</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g so<br />
averages the impact of crisis out across the landscape. Part of the reason that it has been so effective is<br />
that <strong>Haiti</strong>'s mounta<strong>in</strong>ous terra<strong>in</strong> and correspond<strong>in</strong>g micro climates have meant that environmental crises<br />
that would impede production at the household level rarely impacts an entire region. When it does, such<br />
as with Hurricane Sandy of 2012, the people are able <strong>to</strong> turn for food <strong>to</strong> their garden and artisanal fish<strong>in</strong>g<br />
or <strong>to</strong> cash reserves of their mama lajan (market money); for new cash, they turn <strong>to</strong> the sale of lives<strong>to</strong>ck<br />
and charcoal production for the urban market. It should also be unders<strong>to</strong>od that up until the previous<br />
decade, all that is be<strong>in</strong>g described occurred, and has been occurr<strong>in</strong>g for 2 centuries, <strong>in</strong> the near <strong>to</strong>tal<br />
absence of State services. With the exception of tax<strong>in</strong>g animal sales and market vendors, provid<strong>in</strong>g<br />
security <strong>in</strong> the form of police, and assistance with education, the State has been largely absent. The vast<br />
bulk of road work, <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> irrigation, and agricultural extensions services have come from NGOs,<br />
missionaries, and <strong>in</strong>ternational agencies. Even here, many times over the past 50 years “development”<br />
and “relief” organizations have not helped but rather pulled out when the people <strong>in</strong> the region were faced<br />
with crises such as the political crises of 1991-1994 and 2002-2004. Thus, <strong>in</strong> formulat<strong>in</strong>g new strategies <strong>to</strong><br />
assist rural <strong>Haiti</strong>ans we should keep <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d that, while not perfect <strong>in</strong> terms of bus<strong>in</strong>ess and maximiz<strong>in</strong>g<br />
profits, the strategies they practice made it possible for them survive extreme hardships, <strong>in</strong> an extreme<br />
environment and with very little outside help for over two centuries.<br />
Return<strong>in</strong>g <strong>to</strong> eggs, the most important po<strong>in</strong>t <strong>to</strong> understand <strong>in</strong> the previous summary of rural livelihood<br />
strategies <strong>in</strong> <strong>Haiti</strong> is that whatever the exact configuration of these livelihood strategies, the guid<strong>in</strong>g