By Ivet González, with reporting by Patricia Grogg, IPS. Small farmers in Cuba are involved in developing improved seeds from local stocks, to obtain good harvests under difficult environmental conditions. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Caracol Bay area was slated to be a World Heritage Site and Marine Park because of its breathtaking barrier reef, mangroves, and migratory birds. The area is also the site of archaeological finds including Guacanagaric, one of the largest and most complete Taino Indian villages. The area has been converted into the massive Caracol Industrial Park (or Free-Trade zone, FTZ) that is expected to pollute the Trou du Nord River and the bay and get served by a deep-water port.
Continue reading →By Staff (TB), Haiti Libre | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Local importers of fertilizers and the Haitian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Monday, June 25, 2012, to fix a bag of nitrogenous fertilizer at $21 and sulfate fertilizer at $13. Chemical fertilizer is cheap now that it is subsidized. After the native strains of rice, corn, and other crops vanish, the fertilizer will cost its full price.
Continue reading →By Javiera Manuela Rulli and Reto Sonderegger, Parar El Mundo | Translated by Lilian Joensen for Grupo de Reflexión Rural | Friends of the Earth | Haiti Chery. An explanation of the chain of events that have shaken Paraguay, from the Curuguaty deaths on June 15 to the June 22 overthrow of Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Pierre Ricardo Placide, Le Matin. After a 20% drop in Haiti’s agricultural production last year, the agricultural sector is under threat of a more drastic reduction of food supply. This situation could exacerbate food insecurity in the most vulnerable households in the Departments of the North, Northeast, South, Artibonite and Central Plateau. (English | French)
Continue reading →Deseret News Editorial | Rebekah Wilce, PR Watch | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Farm Bill 2012 has met more public outrage over subsidies than any previous farm bill. A quarter of U.S. farms earn over $100,000 a year, and the net income of all farms, at $91.7 billion, is the second-highest level ever. Yet the government subsidizes some farmers whether or not they plant a crop, and the top 4% of those subsidized get 74% of all the funds.
Continue reading →By Jacob Kushner, Global Post | U.S. Farm Bill 2012, Develop Trade Law | Environmental Working Group | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. U.S. Farm Bill 2012 could reverse a decades-long policy of agricultural subsidies that has undercut Haiti’s local rice production.
Continue reading →By Feizal Samath, IPS. By coaxing a bumper 3.2 tonnes of rice out of each acre on his organic farm in the Thrippane, Sri Lanka, district famed for its ancient Buddhist monasteries, Charitha Wijeratne has proved that indigenous seeds do not affect productivity.
Continue reading →By Reynold Aris, Le Matin | Staff, Radio Kiskeya | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. The Port Market in Port-au-Prince went up in flames early in the morning on June 18, 2012 and again on July 12-13, 2012, about one year after another fire. Traders at the market say they’ve received numerous threats about a fire, and the city’s Chief Prosecutor noted that three attempts to burn this market had recently been aborted. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Marcela Valente, IPS. Export of fair-trade goods, including honey, from Argentina is growing steadily despite the global recession. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | David Gardner, Mail Online. The worldwide decline in honeybee populations and so-called colony-collapse disorder (CCD) is alternately blamed on the unpredictability of flowering by many plants due to climate change, the ravages of new pesticides, parasitic mites and, more recently, the viruses harbored by these mites. Were it not for some spectacular traffic accidents in recent years, we would not know about the lucrative business, since the 1990’s, of trucking bees by the tens of millions for agribusiness.
Continue reading →By Ronel Odatte (kft and rc), AlterPresse | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Small farmers from Haiti’s Central Plateau are losing their livelihood due to a massive influx of eggs and poultry from abroad; likewise farmers of freshwater fish from the same region are being driven to bankruptcy by a massive and incessant influx of fish from the Dominican Republic and U.S. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Roberson Alphonse, Le Nouvelliste | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to Dieuseul Anglade, director of Haiti’s Office of Mines and Energy in Haiti, during the negotiations for mineral exploitation, the Haitian State will keep a close watch to ensure that Haitian citizens benefit from the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the mayors have been dismissed, and land prices have skyrocketed. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Nocles Debreus, Le Matin | Translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Haiti’s agricultural sector creates 50 percent of the country’s employment overall and 80 percent in rural areas. Agronomist Phito Blémur believes that policies toward development and poverty reduction must take into account the vital role this sector played immediately after Independence when it accounted for 95 percent of the GDP, instead of the current 26 percent. (English | French)
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