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PP Presentation Food and Water Supplies (1) Ever since declaration of independence in 1804, the economic situation in Haiti has been steadily worsening, which is one of the reasons why this country is being considered as the poorest in the world for many decades. This does not make much of a sense, especially given the fact that Haiti used to be the most economically thriving country in the world, while remaining under French rule. Today, the majority of Haitians live below the poverty line, while struggling to meet ends on everyday basis. The cases of Haitians dying out of hunger are very common in this country. Western tourists simply cannot comprehend how was it possible for the Haiti to descent back into the savagery, within a matter of hundred years, after Haitians gained independence and started to conduct their internal and foreign affairs, without the involvement of White people. Some political observers suggest that Gaitanis are simply incapable of governing themselves.
Even though this point of view is little too extreme, we cannot brush it aside as something absolutely illogical. During the course of this presentation, it will be explained why. William Pierce in his article The Lesson of Haiti, suggests that economical situation in Haiti cannot get better, simply because there are no White people left: The U. S. troops built roads, schools, and clinics and pumped a few billion U. S.
dollars into the Haitian economy, but a survey of the results of all this effort is not encouraging. The streets of Port-au-Prince still reek of garbage and human waste, political corruption is as bad as it ever was, and violent crime is on the rise. The new roads and clinics built by the United States merely add a superficial appearance of improvement, so that the tourist industry is able to begin making a little money again, but the basic situation of Haiti and the lives of most Haitians remain unchanged (Pierce). In this presentation, we will try to prove that it is possible for Haitians to improve their living standards, for as long as they understand what holding them back and willing to implement innovative agricultural methods that are being specifically designed to be used in Haiti. (2) Prior to gaining independence, Haiti was known for its fertile soils. Along with the warm climate, this enabled Haiti to become the worlds largest producer of coffee and the second largest producer of sugar by 1800. However, as time went by, most of Haitian fertile soil has eroded into the air.
This can be explained by Haitian hilly landscape and the neglect, on the part of Haitians, when it comes to protecting the soil with standard agricultural techniques that were known to Europeans for thousands of years. After 1804, White farmers were being driven out of their land and their farms were given to the descendants of former salves, who did not know much about farming. As a result, Haitians started to cultivate corn, while trying to expand their land further, by the mean of planting corn everywhere they could. However, unlike French farmers, Haitians did not care much about allowing soil to rest, after it yields a few crops.
This led to so called soil exhaustion, which in its turn, stimulated the erosion processes. Because of this, only 10 % of what used to be farming land in Haiti, maintain its agricultural value. This gives us a clue to how increase the food production in Haiti. It can be achieved with the mean of increasing the volume of agricultural land. The fertile soil would have to be exported from abroad.
After this, Haitians would have to grow grass on it for at least 10 - 20 years, in order to strengthen soils structure, before they are going to be able to plant fruits and vegetables on this soil. However, this way of increasing food output in Haiti does not seem to be very realistic, because it would require Haitian government to invest into long-term economical project, which is not very likely, given the fact that government simply struggles from year to year to provide simple food to the citizens. It is in Haitian mentality not to think about tomorrow and to simply exploit natural resources until they become fully exhausted. Therefore, even though that increasing the volume of agricultural land would rapidly improve economic situation in Haiti, this method does not appear to be very practical, because of specific socio-political circumstances in this country that involve human factor. One of the reasons why Haitian economy is highly ineffective is because it does not rely on well-developed infrastructure. According to CIA World Factbook, the total length of all roads in Haiti is 4, 160 km.
However, only 1, 011 km of roads are paved, even though that as recent as 30 years ago, paved roads consisted of 2, 500 km. There is only one reason why it happened in the first place governmental neglect and corruption among Haitian officials. The economic recovery project A Window of Opportunity for Haiti, prepared by the World Bank, leaves no doubt that it is impossible to talk about maximizing food production in Haiti, without improving countrys transportation system first: Economic growth cannot be sustained if basic physical infrastructures are lacking or are of poor quality. In Haiti, these infrastructures are in a very advanced state of deterioration. Only 5 percent of roads are in good condition and 15 percent in a condition considered average, whereas 34 percent of the network was still in acceptable condition in 1991 (World Bank). From this, we can conclude that, in order for Haiti to begin producing more food, Haitian government would have to invest in improving countrys transportation system.
Two thirds of Haiti's population resides in rural areas. For most of the time, these areas are simply inaccessible, which negatively affects the development of agriculture in Haiti. World Bank economists suggest that if Haitian government managed to fix at least 60 % of countrys roads that were being built by Americans, the rate of abject poverty among Haitians would drop from 54 % to 20 %, because this would automatically result in boosting up the agricultural sector of Haitian economy. Nevertheless, one does not have to be overly smart to understand that the process of improving countrys transportation system is not likely to ever begin, unless UN sends bulldozers and workers to do everything for Haitians, as American government had done before. Haitian government simply has no money and there are no private financial institutions that would be willing to invest into Haitian economy, because it is the same as simply throwing money into the air. One of the reasons why majority of Haitians proved themselves as being unable to break out of vicious circle of poverty is that they simply do not know the basics of farming.
For example, chickens in Haiti run free and this is why 70 % of eggs they lay are not being found. It never occurs for Haitian peasants to surround their land with fences, so that chicken would not be able to escape. Many of these peasants complain that weather in Haiti is too cold, which prevents them from growing fruits and vegetables, while climatic conditions for the agriculture in Haiti are among the best in the world. We can come up with various advices as to how Haiti can maximize its food production, but they will not result in anything, for as long as Haitians instead of tending their crops are going to engage in Voodoo religious ceremonies and kill each other in gang related violence, while relying on humanitarian aid, as something that allows them to survive.
Thus, it appears that the most effective way of helping Haitians to become self-efficient, is cutting all the humanitarian aid to this country. Only this will make them to understand that their survival depends on themselves. In its turn, this will encourage Haitians to learn more about farming. In addition, this would reduce Haitian population, which is absolutely necessary, if this country is ever to break out of poverty's grip.
The truth is, there are just too many people in Haiti, and therefore, it is simply physically impossible to provide them all with food. Today we have a situation when population growth rate in Haiti has reached 2. 453 %, while every year there is less and less land left, which is suitable for agriculture. Therefore, the most realistic way to maximize food production in Haiti, so that it would actually benefit Haitians, is educating them on the subject of farming and birth control. Investing in agricultural education needs to become Haitian governments foremost priority. (3) One of the problems Haiti currently faces is scarcity of its fresh water resources.
However, it would be wrong to suggest that the scarcity of water in Haiti has some unique causes, which differs from causes in other countries that experience the same problem. The article Solutions for a Water-Short World, which can be found on the site of Information for Health, suggests that that there are basically only two effective methods of preventing water resources from being exhausted - water conservation techniques and implementing and popularizing birth control among population: To avoid a water crisis, particularly in water-short countries with rapid population growth, it is vital to slow the growth in demand for water by managing the resource better, while at the same time slowing population growth as soon as possible. Family planning programs play an important role not only for individual reproductive health but also for sustainability of the use of freshwater and other natural resources in relation to population size (IF). However, there are some specifically Haitian aspects, which relate to the shortage of water in this country. First of all, the levels of water pollution in Haiti are the highest in the world. It is not an uncommon sight to see ordinary Haitians dumping waste into the rivers, as if this was the most natural thing.
This is why, in order to preserve water resources, I would suggest that Haitian government introduces heavy penalties to be used against those individuals who pollute water. There are four rivers in Haiti and all four of them are polluted, which is the main reason why we can say that that water in Haiti is being misused. Therefore, it is a crucial for the government to come up with comprehensive plan as to how clean up Haitian rivers, because this can effectively solve the problem of drinking water shortage in this country. We can talk about cleaning Haitian river as the essential part of water preservation program, which needs to be deployed by Haitian authorities, if they want to prevent many of their fellow citizens from dying out of thirst in the future.
Another method of dealing with water shortage that I would recommend is utilization of all water recourses. Haiti has a tropical climate, which means that it gets a fair amount of rain on continuous basis. Many Haitians collect rainwater in buckets and use it for cooking and washing. However, the government has failed to recognize the importance of collecting rainwater on the state level. All it needs to do is to build a few large reservoirs in Haiti's biggest towns, where rainwater can be harvested and prevented from becoming stale.
When weather becomes very hot and people begin to experience the shortage of water, they will be able to get water from these reservoirs. There is going to be nothing fancy or civilized about it, but this would help many Haitians to survive. If these reservoirs are going to be built on tops of the hills, it will be possible to connect them to water pipes in every town that has centralized water supply systems. The Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean, which can be found on the site of Organization of American States, suggests that harvesting rain is only the option in many underdeveloped Caribbean countries: The application of an appropriate rainwater harvesting technology can make possible the utilization of rainwater as a valuable and, in many cases, necessary water resource. Rainwater harvesting has been practiced for more than 4, 000 years, and, in most developing countries, is becoming essential owing to the temporal and spatial variability of rainfall.
Rainwater harvesting is necessary in areas having significant rainfall but lacking any kind of conventional, centralized government supply system, and also in areas where good quality fresh surface water or groundwater is lacking (OAS). Haitian government could also hire professional geophysicists from abroad, to find underground sources of water. This can be done with the simple method of running electric currency between two metal pins that are being put in the ground, which allows scientists to find an underground springs and creeks. After this, the hole can be drilled and the water extracted. This water would not need to be additionally cleansed and it could be supplied to towns and villages right away. (4) Haiti is traditionally being referred to as developing country. However, this term is misleading.
It would be more proper to refer to it as undervaluing. Slowly but surely Haiti is descending into barbarism. Therefore, it is quite impossible to come with any valuable suggestions of how to improve the life of people in this country. One thing is clear the aid money that UN gives Haiti every year, are being stolen by countrys officials. This is why I would suggest that UN pays a third party to install law and order in Haiti. U.
S. army had done it many times. Nevertheless, it was always just a matter of time before civil chaos would erupt again, after foreign military presence was removed from the island. Haiti is only an independent country de jure, because it does not have a stable government and does not even have army, which is the most important symbol of national sovereignty. The CIA World Factbook states: Haiti has no regular military forces - small coast guard; the regular Haitian Armed Forces (F AdH) - Army, Navy, and Air Force - have been demobilized but still exist on paper unless they are constitutionally abolished (CIA World Factbook). This is why; the premise, which suggests that Haiti is developing independent country, does not correspond to the objective reality.
The neighboring Dominican Republic has the same climatic conditions and similar natural resources, but it is doing quite well. Moreover, the reason why Dominicans do not accept immigrants from Haiti is simple they do not want to have their country to eventually turn into Haiti. There are a lot of things that can be done to improve the life of Haitians, but the measures suggested in this paper can only be implemented in the country, where socio-political situation is more or less stable. Therefore, we can say that, in order for the proposed agricultural and environmental measures to have any effect, Haitians would have to establish a political stability in their country first. Bibliography: Pierce, W.
The Lesson of Haiti. 1997. National Alliance. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from web Haiti. 2007. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from web A Window of Opportunity for Haiti. 2006. World Bank.
Org. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from web (Sept 27 - 2006). pdf. Solutions for a Water-Short World. 2004.
Information for Health. Org. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from web Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2007. Organization of American States. Retrieved August 12, 2007 from web Abstract: This paper contains suggestions of how to increase the production of food in Haiti and how to prevent the misuse of water in this country. Outline: Introduction Increasing the production of food Preventing misuse of water Conclusion
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