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HAITI / AGRICULTURE
STORY: HAITI / AGRICULTURE
TRT: 5:06
SOURCE: MINUSTAH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE / NATS
DATELINE FEBRUARY 2009, CENTRAL PLAINS, HAITI
1.Wide shot, plough tilling through the land
2.Med shot, farmer drives the oxen on the farm
3.Close up, plough tilling through the land
4.Wide shot, farmers carry the plough
5.Wide shot, farmers cross the river
6.Wide shot, farm house in Wanikete neighbourhood
7.SOUNDBITE (Creole) Francis Jean, Member PPC:
“We thought over the idea proposed to us by a foreigner who drew our attention to the potential of land lying fallow and surrounding water in increasing agricultural output. From this moment on, we put our heads together and decided to found the Pro Farmers Cooperative PPC.”
8.Wide shot, young farmer inspects cabbage plantation
9.SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“PPC is an organization working in favour of farmers and animal breeders in the central plains. The goal is to supervise them and find land for those who do not have, so they can farm. We also provide them with training.”
10.Wide shot, young farmer arrives at a farmhouse aboard a motorcycle
11.Med shot, young farmers descends from a motorcycle
12.SOUNDBITE (Creole) Orius Nonsince, Land Owner, Member, PPC:
“These young men came to meet me, they have better access to funding facilities. Since I cannot work but have a lot of land lying idle at my disposal, I decided to team up with them because I saw this as a development opportunity, that way we both benefit. I have an income and they also have a means of livelihood too.”
13. Close up, mature cabbage
14.Wide shot, cabbage plantation
15.Wide shot, two farmers carry water hose across the cabbage plantation
16.Med shot, cabbage plantation
17.Close up, farmers operate water pump
18.Close up,water gushes out of a rubber hose
19.Wide shot,water is canalized into ridges
20.SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“The money earned from the enterprise is saved in the PPC bank account. The money serves to purchase seeds, fuel and other farm inputs needed to run the farm. For the current year, it is MINUSTAH that financed us to the tune of USD 15,000. The money was used to buy oxen, water pump and other things which has given us a very good start. This means our overhead costs for succeeding years can be kept to a barest minimum.”
21.Med shot, onion and tomato beds
22. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“We produce just to have a small profit margin, but our goal is to bring down the rising cost of living.”
23.Wide shot, farmers thin out weeds
24.Close up, farmer’s hands thinning out weeds
25.SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“Up till now, we have not made a lot of profit except that in the last three months, all project participants have the possibility of eating a daily warm meal. We do not earn salaries now but we strongly believe that in future, with increased productivity, there is a potential of having a salary.”
26.Wide shot, farmers thinning out weeds
27.Close up, planter’s hands thinning out weeds
28.SOUNDBITE (Creole) Chilet Jean-Pierre, Member, PPC:
“We earn a little sum of money which though is not sufficient to keep body and soul together but we hope that with increased production, things will improve in future.”
29.Wide shot, tomato plant/nursery of coconut and other plants
30.Wide shot, cabbage plantation
Though agriculture remains the economic life wire of the Centre Department in Haiti, the area continues to grapple with several constraints: lack of roads, absence of irrigation facilities and erosion among others.
Added to this is the difficulty of access to land.
However, in Wanikete, a small district near the city of Hinche, a group of young people got together and decided to till the land a little differently.
This new method could provide answers to the problems of youth unemployment and to erosion through intensive cultivation of neglected agricultural land.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Francis Jean, Member PPC:
“We thought over the idea proposed to us by a foreigner who drew our attention to the potential of land lying fallow and surrounding water in increasing agricultural output. From this moment on, we put our heads together and decided to found the Pro Farmers Cooperative PPC.”
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“PPC is an organization working in favour of farmers and animal breeders in the central plains. The goal is to supervise them and find land for those who do not have, so they can farm. We also provide them with training.”
After securing finances for the project, the young farmers went to meet Orius Nonesince, a farmer and land owner in the area.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Orius Nonsince, Land Owner, Member, PPC:
“These young men came to meet me, they have better access to funding facilities. Since I cannot work but have a lot of land lying idle at my disposal, I decided to team up with them because I saw this as a development opportunity, that way we both benefit. I have an income and they also have a means of livelihood too.”
With the funding secured and access to land guaranteed, the group was now ready to get their project off the ground by growing different sort of legumes.
Initially conceived to be a practical training programme for thirty agricultural technicians, the project has grown into a fairly large scale production.
Even during the dry season, the production is sustained because of the availability of water in the nearby river Samana.
Using a two inch pump, water is fed into the beds of legumes.
A part of the income generated by the association is used to meet recurrent production needs.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“The money earned from the enterprise is saved in the PPC bank account. The money serves to purchase seeds, fuel and other farm inputs needed to run the farm. For the current year, it is MINUSTAH that financed us to the tune of USD 15,000. The money was used to buy oxen, water pump and other things which has given us a very good start. This means our overhead costs for succeeding years can be kept to a barest minimum.”
If the association does not go after a big profit margin, its members have other good reasons to keep on working.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“We produce just to have a small profit margin, but our goal is to bring down the rising cost of living.”
Selling below market price, yes, but how do they keep body and soul together?
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jean Monestime, Vice President, PPC:
“Up till now, we have not made a lot of profit except that in the last three months, all project participants have the possibility of eating a daily warm meal. We do not earn salaries now but we strongly believe that in future, with increased productivity, there is a potential of having a salary.”
Chilet is a young participant in the PPC project. He considers his participation as an investment.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Chilet Jean-Pierre, Member, PPC:
“We earn a little sum of money which though is not sufficient to keep body and soul together but we hope that with increased production, things will improve in future.”
Increasing agricultural production, getting young people to till the land and reducing the cost of living is a challenge that PPC hopes to meet.
Combining the efforts of those who possess land without needed financing with those who are willing to till the land but have no access could be an answer to some to Haiti’s challenges to improve agricultural production.
END
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