Gerald Murray at the University of Florida is an expert on Haiti. Professor Murray says many rural families have taken in relatives and friends who lost homes and jobs. "There may be enough to eat for a while," he says, "but before too long there may be hunger."
Farming is about sixty percent of Haiti's economy. But most food comes from imports.
Before the earthquake, the Haitian government and private groups were working to improve agriculture.
Deforestation has traditionally been a major problem for farmers. Few trees remain to protect soil from floods, droughts and severe storms.
In the sixteen hundreds Haiti’s French colonizers cleared forests to plant sugar cane. In the nineteen fifties, forests were cut down for wood and other products.
Poor technology and poor roads also reduced agricultural production. So did animal and plant diseases. Farmers moved to cities to do other work.
Professor Murray says the average farm in Haiti measures about one or one and a half hectares. And the fields are commonly divided between level ground and a mountainside.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with additional reporting by Steve Baragona. I’m Bob Doughty.
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2013-11-25
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