Haiti's Government Abandons Farmers as Food Prices and Hunger Escalate Throughout the Country

The Haitian government has announced that it will purchase 300,000 bags of rice to help the population in the face of rising food prices and after demonstrations about the high cost of living in several parts of the country. Josué Baptiste: One of the problems is that flooding ruined our rice, and we must have fertilizer but it's difficult. We needed to have fertilizer to help us in this dry earth, but we never received any and the rice is now ruined. We don't have proper drainage, we don't have canals and this is a major problem we are confronting when we try to cultivate the land here in the Artibonite. Despite the fact that land exists and farmers are available to work, the Haitian government isn't doing enough to help the agricultural sector regain its capacity. Haitian farmers continue to use outdated methods of cultivation. Fenelus Ojeste is a producer and seller of rice. Importing food prevents us from selling despite all the money we have spent to cultivate. A gallon of cooking oil sells for 320 gourdes [$8 US], a cup of beans is 290 gourdes [$7.25 US]. Everything is expensive and rice is what we do for our profession, if the authorities continue to import food from other places, it is our food that will keep losing it's value. We always ask for help but we shouldn't always have to keep asking. Haitian rice producers criticize the government for not prioritizing them in this moment when the country needs them more, while they are showing their will to work for the agricultural sector and production of rice to advance and modernize. In the last twenty-five years, the Haitian state has contributed directly to the destruction of rice production despite rice being one of the most highly consumed and important products for food security in the country. After the earthquake, the international community which did not give its support to help strengthen national production despite it being a necessity, has shown itself to really be no different than the Haitian government, which does not prioritize the agriculture sector in the country's budget for 2012-2013.