Reply #1: HAITI: New Peasant Alliance Demands Action on Food Crisis

[struggle4progress]

From: Inter Press Service
By Charles Arthur*

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 14 (IPS) - Haiti's peasant farmers are organising and taking action to try and bring an end to the country's dependence on food imports, and to avert the prospect of looming famine.

In recent months, meetings and demonstrations held by peasant farmer groups and supported by a number of non-governmental organisations have been taking place across Haiti. The mobilisation is part of a fledgling political campaign to end the marginalisation of the rural population and to revamp the nation's neglected agricultural sector ...

Until recently largely self-sufficient in food production, declining yields and a growing population have left Haiti ever more dependent on imported food. The dangers of this reliance were starkly revealed at the beginning of 2008 when the country experienced sharp price rises for food imports.

The poverty-stricken population suddenly found itself unable to afford to buy food staples such as rice, beans, or cooking oil. In April, anti-hunger riots erupted in towns across the country, and the government was forced out of office. In an effort to stem the riots, President René Préval abandoned neo-liberal policy dogma by intervening to subsidise the price of imported rice for a six-month period ...

http://us.oneworld.net/article/359518-haiti-peasant-alliance-demands-action-food-crisis