Initial Introduction to Salt Production

I rode my motorbike down to the coast to see the salt basins and get acquainted with the heads of the committees. The salt producers have already been working with AMURT for some time. Last year they worked on rehabilitating old basins, this year they are hoping to start implementing a more advanced method of production. Ewan, the head of the infrastructure project, had already called a meeting and explained the goals of the project so there wasn't a lot of info for me to add; rather I just chitchatted, set dates for future meetings, and told everybody "Soon, soon, the project will be starting soon." All the salt producers seem very skeptical; one remarked "it's been soon for a while…" All I could do was shrug. "Soon" is all that the donor, the World Food Program, had been saying over the last 6 months.

Yet the food arrived the next day and now 700 bags each of rice each weighing over 100 pounds fill our warehouse. Next week the beans and oil will arrive. The day before, I was dreading the awkward silence that would have surely made up most of next weeks meetings, but now by incredible luck I'm exactly where I need to be.

Although this food is labeled AID it often fails to serve that purpose. The overwhelming majority of Haitian's are farmers, things like rice and beans are their staple crops. As in all economies, if the market is flooded with cheap low quality imports, the domestic producers are hurt. Strangle as it may seem, the cheap AID rice, hurts the Haitian peasant farmers and causes hardships for this very large segment of the population. Click here for a definition of agricultural subsidies.

I have mixed feelings first about paying workers in food rather than money, secondly, that the food is of such a low quality I would never eat it myself, lastly, that food imports depress the wages of poor farmers. (Click here for an article regarding the harmful effect of agricultural subsidies on poor communities) All this aside, the new method of salt production could greatly improve the earning potential of these poor coastal villages. Plus, at a future date the new salt could be iodized. The Anse Rouge area is the principle salt producer region of Haiti . With iodization the diseases associated iodine deficiency would largely be eliminated throughout the entire nation.