TI RIVYE, Haiti, Dec. 27 (IPS) —The sunrise catches the silhoutted farmers threshing the newly harvested rice stalks, whacking the bundles against the ground to shake loose the grains, then spreading them out to dry.

When the market at the centre of town opens, market women will lay out their baskets of rice and chaff — sold as pig feed — and wait for the buyers.

Rice is the big cash crop for the small farmers of the Artibonite Valley, Haiti’s ‘’bread basket’’ and largest rice- producing region. Ti Rivye (Petite Riviere de l’Artibonite in French), home to some 12,000 people, is a major market town in the region.

Only a couple of decades ago, Haiti was self-sufficient in this important component of its people’s diet. But with the forced opening of the Haitian economy beginning in the 1980s, and accelerating this past year, cheap ‘’Miami rice’’ from the United States has grabbed a growing share of the market.

Haitian consumers sometimes benefit from lower prices. But many small growers of the Artibonite are drowning in the flood of imports.

According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), 63 percent of the farmers in Haiti work plots of a quarter hectare or less. But a succession of military dictatorships, combined with the neo-liberal measures of the present government, have eliminated many of the meager supports, including tariffs on imports, credit, seeds and irrigation systems, that once made these plots economically viable.

At the same time, U.S. rice growers and traders continue to benefit from heavy U.S. government subsidies, notes the U.S.-based group, the Washington Office on Haiti.

One such company, the Rice Corporation of Haiti, owned by U.S. agribusiness giant Erly Industries, now imports roughly half the rice consumed in Haiti and has a ‘’virtual monopoly’’ on rice imports here, according to the Haitian bi-monthly newsletter, Haiti Info.

‘’The real problem here is that the U.S. dollar is too strong,’’ said Volmy de Rosier, the town treasurer.

‘’Rice farmers have to buy a lot of imported fertilizers and pesticides in dollars. When the dollar goes up, their expenses go up with it. They don’t export rice, though, so they don’t benefit from the weak Haitian currency, the gourde. And Haitian consumers still prefer ‘Miami rice’ from the States,’’ he argued.

Newer strains of rice, developed in the U.S. during the Green Revolution of the 1940s and 1950s, require more fertilizers and pesticides, which Haitians cannot afford, rather than more human labour. As farmers are forced off the land, many end up swelling the already hellish bidonvilles around the cities.

‘’People have suffered so long,’’ said Father Gustana Valcourt, a Catholic priest. ‘’The farmers here have their associations, but their level of technology is low. They need to raise it, and for that we need stability and continuity.’’

Peasants continue to be hamstrung by high land rents, transport costs, and taxes, and usurious credit, according to Haiti Info. A few powerful middle-men have traditionally dominated distribution and marketing here, enforcing their system with gunmen.

The Association of Agricultural and Peasant Groups of the Artibonite (AGAPA) encourages farmers to meet in small groups to discuss their problems, and form cooperatives to work land together. Several of these groups then pool resources in local committees.

AGAPA helps these committees build silos to store their grain, so that they are not captives of the low price at harvest time. They also work on reforestation of bare hillsides, potable water projects, and health-care training.

Defending their members in land conflicts is a particularly dangerous task, as big landowners have killed some peasants in these disputes. The courts are still dominated by holdover judges from the military regime, AGAPA organizers, who asked to remain anonymous, told IPS.

Although Parliament is considering a land reform, the government has yet to begin a process of land distribution.

Water for irrigation is also a sensitive issue. The local agency charged with water distribution is corrupt, AGAPA organisers said. It siphons off money intended for irrigation improvements, and water that could be used for crops escapes down river. AGAPA is seeking funds for pumps, which would allow them to greatly expand irrigated areas.

Michel Pierre-Louis, a barefoot man in his fifties wearing a straw hat, lives outside of Ti Rivye near thf banks of the Estere, a tributary of the Artibonite. The rains have washed all the topsoil off the mountains down into the Estere, choking it with silt. Every summer, it floods almost up to his house.

Pierre-Louis farms a hectare (about 2.5 acres) of irrigated rice further downstream, a larger plot than most in the valley. Like most other farmers here, he also grows some millet and corn.

His wife died a few years ago, and his son and two daughters are in the capital finishing high school — unusual for farmers’ children. Pierre-Louis doesn’t think they’ll come back to farming.

Many of the local farmers work in ‘’Konbit,’’ the old African system of work sharing still common in Haiti. But Pierre-Louis prefers to go it alone. He belongs to the local improvement association, though, and helps them maintain the irrigation system.

Imported fertilizer from the Dominican Republic runs him 360 dollars yearly, more than the Haitian average per capita income. The interest on the money he has to borrow is another big expense. This year, he says, despite a decent harvest and price, he lost money.(END/IPS/PC/DC-JL/95)

Origin: Washington/HAITI/ ----

[c] 1995, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS) All rights reserved

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