Rice
"Rice producers want a better life.
We work hard for it. But when we get to market we are bombarded
with an invasion of cheap imported rice, so we have to sell at any
price that a buyer is prepared to give us. How can we compete against
the big guys?"
- Inodil Fils, rice farmer, Artibonite Valley, Haiti
At the start of the 1980s, Haiti produced almost
all of its own rice. But pressure from the international community
- from the USA in particular - forced Haiti to open up its markets
to foreign imports. As a result, Haiti has been flooded by cheap,
subsidised rice from the USA. This has driven down the price of
local rice, with appalling consequences for the people - one-fifth
of Haiti's population - who rely on rice production for a living.
 Some
rice farmers have had to leave their land in search of work in neighbouring
Dominican Republic. Many have had to take their children out of
school because they can't pay the fees. And people are going hungry.
As their incomes shrink, rice growers are unable to buy the foods
that would give them and their families a well-balanced diet. Fifty
per cent of chilren in Haiti are malnourished, with the highest
rate in the rice-growing areas.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
The USA is the richest country in the world.
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act now
