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The current crisis has been building for a long time, but because it has been front page news recently in the American media, people are now paying attention.
Extreme
poverty and food For more than two decades Haiti’s food production has been declining. Today, it is almost at the point of zero. While food exports to Haiti have increased dramatically in the last 20 years, it has become too expensive for the poor to afford. Those who are lucky enough to have a parent or family who is able to send them food, have little incentive to produce their own. The added factor in this crisis is that the increasing cost of food is a global issue, so the poorest nations will be the most affected. At this time we don’t need another band-aid solution at the expense of the very poor. I believe that while we must send emergency food, we need to have a plan to increase food productivity and economic opportunities in Haiti, so the people can become self-sufficient. You can feed them today, but they will be hungry tomorrow. The vicious cycle will continue until the Haitian people understand that what they think of as help from overseas is actually hurting them in the long term. At one point in our history we were supplying Europe and other colonies. We can do it again. It is time for the people of Haiti to wake up from this bad dream. Helping Haitians help themselves is the only way to a lasting and permanent solution. We need to plant trees and cultivate the remaining soil before it, too, has been washed into the sea. |