Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
third. Then a government eradication program almost wiped
out what remained of the 1.2 million pigs by 1982. Angry farmers
complained about the government's inadequate compensation
for their slaughtered livestock and about its restocking
program using pigs imported from the United States. The
large imported pink sentinel strain of pig offered as a replacement
for the hardy creole breed was considered unsuitable for
Haiti's environment. Farmers also complained that the United
States variety required a level of upkeep they could not afford.
To supplement the sentinel pigs, Jamaican creole pigs were
added to Haiti's livestock population. After the swine-fever epidemic,
chicken replaced pork as the most widely consumed
meat in the Haitian diet.
Goats are one of the most plentiful farm animals in Haiti
and, like the creole pigs, adapt well to the terrain and sparse
vegetation. Their numbers increased from 400,000 in 1981 to
more than 1 million by the end of the 1980s (latest figures
available). Approximately 54 percent of all farmers own goats.
Sheep are raised in some areas, but they are not particularly
well adapted to the island's climate.
Some 8,000 to 10,000 Haitians fish the 1,500-kilometer coastline
on a full-time or part-time basis, netting an average annual
catch of 5,000 tons of fish. Although Haiti's immediate coastal
waters are over-fished, deep-sea fishing is underdeveloped
because most Haitian fishers lack the modern equipment
required for profitable fishing on the high seas. Thus, fishing
in general has remained undeveloped into the late 1990s, even
though it potentially could have been a major source of badly
needed protein in the population's diet. The country imports
more than 12,000 tons of fish products a year to satisfy domestic
demand.
Industry
Manufacturing
Like almost everything else in Haiti, manufacturing, which
was the most dynamic sector of the economy in the 1980s and
which accounted for more than 18 percent of GDP in 1980
(and almost 14 percent of GDP in 1991), suffered several crippling
blows in the wake of Aristide's overthrow and the ensuing
embargo imposed by both the UN and the OAS. Of 180 companies
operating in four free zones, 130 closed their factories
in the aftermath of the 1991 coup. However, almost thirty
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