Farming

Alexandre Petion has introduced a land reform following the independence of Haiti that many would agree has cost the country a great deal.

Christophe went to the north and Pétion took the southern Republic of Haiti. One major act by Alexandre Pétion was land redistribution. He seized commercial plantations from the rich and had the land redistributed to his supporters and the peasantry.

In the short term, that earned him lot of respect and appreciation by the beneficiaries. He earned the nickname Papa Bon-CÅ"ur "good-hearted father" as a result.

The land seizures and redistribution ended up reducing the production of commodities for the export economy. As a result, most of the population became subsistence farmers. Exports and state revenue declined sharply.

A look at the present land ownership situation in Haiti would make one think about this original decision

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The Agritrans farm project went officially underway in early October, with the plan to have over 3,000 farmers produce organic bananas to be exported. As part of the project, an artificial lake has been created with the capacity to hold 700,000 gallons of water. It is only one of a series of lakes scheduled to be opened by Haiti's National Program of Artificial Lakes, to be used as reservoirs as well as nurseries for fish. The entire program costs $27 million, and will see a further injection of $15 million to strengthen it.

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