Root Cause /Agricultural import Liberalisation 8

< Previous | Home | Next >

Thirty years ago Haiti produced most of the food it needed.

Food products are now the leading
import, and there has been a dramatic decline in Haiti's ability to feed itself.

This decline in
Haitian agriculture is due to many factors.

The constraints listed above and the lack of support
for small farmers are often cited and are clearly extremely detrimental, but the impact of
liberalising agricultural imports is less often discussed in any depth by donors and the
international community.

Both Oxfam
39
and Christian Aid
40
have looked at rice imports and
their impact on Haitian rice farmers, but there has been little other sector-specific research on
Haiti and the impacts of agricultural liberalisation.

Nevertheless, there is a clear consensus within Haiti that the decline in national production
and dependence on food imports both impact negatively on the country.

Mainstream
publications on Haiti, such as those listed below, are beginning to note that the decline is due,
in part, to import liberalisation.

·
WTO Trade Policy Review (2003) mentions import competition in relation to livestock
(though inexplicably for no other agricultural product).

·
The Agriculture and Food Security Working Group set up recently within the Interim
Cooperation Framework (through which donors are coordinating their re-engagement with
the country) mentions that competition from imports has had a negative impact on Haitian
agriculture.

·
The 2001-2002 report by Haiti's national food security organisation, the Coordination
Nationale de Sécurité Alimentaire (CNSA), lists rapid economic liberalisation, and the role
it has played in lowering the incomes of rural poor people, as a key economic factor in
exacerbating food insecurity in the country.

41
·
UNDP's
2002
Human Development Report states that the tariff reductions led to
`decapitalisation' in Haiti, with losses in both industry and agriculture and a consequent
increase in the activities of the informal sector.

42
·
UNDP's study on Haiti's progress towards meeting the millennium development goals
states that economic liberalization policies have seriously affected agriculture.

One of its
main recommendations for meeting goal eight is that there should be a rethink of trade
policy, including customs tariffs, to assess the actual benefits which the country has
obtained from liberalization.

·
A 2005 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) study found that the macroeconomic
framework has penalized the agriculture sector in Haiti.

Competition from imports has
caused both the fall in agricultural exports and in national agricultural production for the
local market.

Lionne, April 24 2008, 6:48 PM

Start a NEW topic or,
Jump to previous | Next Topic >

< Previous | Home | Next >

< Previous | Home | Next >