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PÉTIONVILLE, (IPS) — Haitian farmers are worried that giant transnational corporations like Monsanto are attempting to gain a larger foothold in the local economy under the guise of earthquake relief and rebuilding.

“Seeds represent a kind of right to life,” peasant leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste told IPS. “That’s why we have a problem today with Monsanto and all the multinationals who sell seeds. Seeds and water are the common patrimony of humanity.”

Earlier this month, in the central square of Hinche, an agricultural town in Haiti’s Plateau Central region, a mass of small farmers wearing red shirts and straw hats burned a symbolic quantity of hybrid corn seed donated to Haiti by the U.S. agricultural-technology giant.

They called on farmers to burn any Monsanto seeds already distributed, and demanded that the government reject further shipments.

The actions in Hinche (pronounced “ansh”) were spearheaded by the Mouvman Peyizan Papay, a regional peasant movement that claims 50,000 members, and the national coalition of some 200,000 members to which it belongs. Despite divisions among Haitian peasant organisations, several of the most important groups joined together to participate.

Haitian agronomist Bazelais Jean-Baptiste sees the issue differently: “The foundation for Haiti’s food sovereignty is the ability of peasants to save seeds from one growing season to the next. The hybrid crops that Monsanto is introducing do not produce seeds that can be saved for the next season, therefore peasants who use them would be forced to somehow buy more seeds each season.”

“Our primary goal is to defend peasant agriculture,” he said, “an organic agriculture that respects the environment and fights against its degradation. We defend native seeds and the rights of peasants on their land.”

The international peasant movement advocates for “food sovereignty”, Jean-Baptiste emphasised, the right of each country to define its agricultural policy, of communities to decide what to produce, and of consumers to know that the products they consume are healthy.

“We work with indigenous groups as well, and with them we believe that the earth has rights that we must respect, just as people have rights,” he said.

The actions against Monsanto also were targeted “against the policies of the government that don’t help peasants, but rather accept products that poison the environment, kill biodiversity and destroy family, peasant agriculture,” he contended.

According to Monsanto, 130 tonnes of hybrid corn and vegetable seed out of a promised 475 tonnes have been sent so far, with the first shipment arriving in Haiti during the first week of May. The remaining 345 tonnes, which will be hybrid corn seed, are to be delivered over the coming 12 months.

The company stressed in a news release that the seeds are not genetically modified, as some early reports stated, but acknowledged that some seeds are coated with fungicides and pesticides.

Monsanto consulted with the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture on what seeds would be acceptable to Haitian farmers and well-suited for Haitian conditions, Darren Wallis, a spokesman for the firm, told IPS in an e-mail.

A programme of the U.S. government’s Agency for International Development, the Watershed Initiative for National Natural Environmental Resources, and the non-profit Earth Institute will distribute the seeds along with inputs such as fertilisers and provide technical support, Monsanto said.

WINNER describes itself as “a 127-million-dollar project … which aims to improve the living conditions of the rural populations in Haïti”.

But speakers at the Jun. 4 rally saw the project in a different light, accusing President René Préval of “collusion with imperialism” and “selling off the national patrimony”.

Although Jean-Baptiste was a key architect of the election of Préval to his first term in 1995, the peasant leader now says bitterly of the politician: “He has simply betrayed the ideas that we stood for.”

Jean-Baptiste sees the seed donation by Monsanto as a beachhead in a battle between Haitian popular organisations and the U.S. and European transnational corporations who, he says, dominate the Haitian government and the reconstruction effort.

“The government is selling off the country or giving it away as a gift. Not only is Monsanto trying to get in, but they’re talking about Coca Cola coming in to plant mangoes. The Haitian people are fighting to make sure that all the generous international aid will be channeled into genuine programmes of sustainable development.”

Mistrust of the intentions of transnational corporations and the United States government is strong among many Haitians and based on a long history. The square in Hinche where the demonstration took place is named after Charlemagne Péralte, the leader of a peasant uprising against the occupation of Haiti by the U.S. Marines, which lasted from 1915 until 1934.

The history of damage to Haitian farmers by foreign aid is also long and painful.

In the 1980s, Creole pigs were almost completely eradicated under heavy pressure from the Ronald Reagan administration. The animals were once known as “the savings bank of the Haitian peasant”, and were bred over centuries to thrive in the Haitian environment.

An epidemic of African Swine Flu that began in the neighbouring Dominican Republic was killing pigs, and U.S. authorities feared that it could spread to North America. Although some Haitian organisations proposed alternatives for controlling the disease, the Duvalier dictatorship violently imposed the will of the U.S. in the face of resistance by many Haitian farmers.

The variety of pig sent from the U.S. as a replacement was much less hardy and required expensive inputs and facilities. Virtually none survived. Many Haitian families were never compensated and suffered a crippling blow to their livelihood, in some cases having to pull their children out of school, according to Grassroots International, a U.S. non-governmental organisation.

The group has been working with Haitian peasant groups since 1997 to repopulate Creole pigs across Haiti.

Testifying before the U.S. Senate in March, former President Bill Clinton offered a notable apology for the policies of his administration towards Haitian agriculture. He lamented that forcing Haiti to lower tariffs on subsidised U.S. rice may have helped rice farmers in his home state of Arkansas, but destroyed the capacity of Haitian rice farmers to feed their country.

Calling his policy a “devil’s bargain,” he said: “We should have continued to work to help them [Haitian rice farmers] be self-sufficient in agriculture.”

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste traveled to the U.S. and the United Nations from Jun. 11 to 14 for meetings to discuss the Monsanto donation and alternatives for Haitian agriculture proposed by Haitian peasants.

http://www.alternet.org/world/147322/haitian_farmers_fight_back_against_monsanto?page=entire

A movement of Haitian farmers and other small-scale producers, have rejected a donation by US agricultural giant Monsanto. The Peasant Movement of Payaye has said it will burn 60,000 sacks of vegetable and corn seeds totaling 475 tons at a value of $4 million that the company donated, in partnership with USAID, following the deadly January earthquake.

Other farmers´ groups have long-protested the use of genetically-modified seeds, arguing they threaten the poor nation´s biodiversity.

Several thousand farmers and activists marched in Hinche in Central Haiti on June 4 against the donation.

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, leader of the Peasant Movement of Papaye and spokesperson for the National Peasant Movement of the Congress of Papaye, called the entry of Monsanto seeds into Haiti “a very strong attack on small agriculture, on farmers, on biodiversity, on Creole seeds… and on what is left of our environment in Haiti.”

The farmers argued that the seeds require large amounts of chemicals and would enslave the producers to buying more Monsanto products. Others said the seeds would contaminate native crops and over all, threaten Haiti´s precarious food security and sovereignty.

“The foundation for Haiti´s food sovereignty is the ability of peasants to save seeds from one growing season to the next,” said Bazelais Jean-Baptiste, an agronomist who directs the “Seeds for Haiti” project in New York City. “The hybrid crops that Monsanto is introducing do not produce seeds that can be saved for the next season, therefore peasants who use them would be forced to somehow buy more seeds each season.”

“Furthermore, these seeds require expensive inputs of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that Haiti´s farmers simply cannot afford,” he continued. “This creates a devastating level of dependency and is a complete departure from the reality of Haiti´s peasants. Haitian peasants already have locally adapted seeds that have been developed over generations. What we need is support for peasants to access the traditional seeds that are already available.”

http://www.eurasiareview.com/201006203590/monsantos-unwelcome-donation.html

Dear Dr. Shah,

We write to you as Faith communities and allied organizations who have a long history of relationships with Haiti, especially with small farmers who work hard to feed themselves and their communities and who are facing even greater poverty in the aftermath of the January, 2010 earthquake. For a land that met most of its own food needs less than 40 years ago, we are concerned that policies put into place by the Haitian government and by our own government have been unable to correct a trend toward the total collapse of Haiti’s agricultural sector. The country now imports most of the food consumed by its population. Haitian farmers want to make Haiti self-sufficient again and we believe that aid from the United States must further that objective.

In that context, we want to express our dismay that $4 million worth of hybrid seeds donated by the Monsanto Corporation are being distributed through the WINNER Project, under the auspices of USAID. We all want to see food production boosted in Haiti.  Small farmers are saying loudly that they do not want to plant chemically coated hybrid seeds because they do not reproduce true.  Roughly 10,000 farmers turned out for a June 4 march in Hinche to protest the use of hybrid seeds and chemical pesticides, as well as any risk of dependency on foreign suppliers for seeds, since hybrid seeds generally require farmers to buy new seeds for each planting season.

We believe that Haitian farmers should decide what form of agriculture is best for their land and what kinds of seeds they choose to plant – else we slide into old patterns of paternalistic behavior. Since the majority of Haiti’s agricultural production is done by small farmers, we urge you to listen to their voices and to consult with the peasant farmer organizations, such as the Peasant Movement of Papay, as you identify alternatives to the present plan and to work collaboratively to create a sustainable food economy in Haiti.

We urge you to heed the requests of small holder farmers by not sending hybrid seeds. Such collaboration is congruent with the goals of the Feed the Future Program, which emphasizes country-led plans and shaping development alongside beneficiaries. We urge you to increase your support to programs that further erosion control, soil conservation, environmental rehabilitation and food production.  We hope that you will also prioritize the local and regional procurement of food aid whenever possible in order to provide further support to Haiti’s agricultural production.

USAID has a critical role in helping Haiti restore its agricultural sector so that Haitians may feed themselves, a value that the psalmist praises: “He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.” (Psalm 126)

Sincerely,

Agricultural Missions
American Jewish World Service
Church World Service
Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach
Conference of Major Superiors of Men (CMSM)
Congregation of Holy Cross
Global Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ
Grassroots International
Groundswell International
Holy Cross International Justice Office
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe Michigan
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Medical Mission Sisters Alliance for Justice
Mennonite Central Committee US Washington Office
PLANT (Partners for the Land & Agricultural Needs of Traditional Peoples)
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Washington Office
Sisters of the Holy Cross — Congregation Justice Committee
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society

CC: Phillip Gary, Chief of Staff, Haiti Task Force, USAID

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Sebastien Narcisse, Students in a makeshift classrom in l’Artibonite, Haiti.

L’Artibonite, a Haitian town two hours north of Port-au-Prince, wasn’t damaged in this year’s earthquake. But the foreign aid that flowed into Haiti after the quake has been a blow to the area.

Most of the people in l’Artibonite earn their living by growing and selling rice, Haiti’s staple food. But the influx of foreign food aid has meant that many Haitians can now get rice for free. As a result, the price of rice in Haiti has plummeted.

Mirana Honorable, a rice farmer, has to choose between selling enough rice to pay for her children to go to school, and having enough rice for her family to eat.

Adam Davidson/NPR, Mirana Honorable and her daughter, in their home in l’Artibonite.

For the moment, the family is going hungry so the kids can go to school.

Classes are held in a small, one-room church. Blackboards are leaned up on the walls; the kids sit in pews.

On a recent day, fifth graders were studying French, fourth graders were studying math. The teacher spent lots of time writing out full paragraphs on the board, for children who could not afford books.

Tuition is about $45. In most years, most of the kids can’t afford to pay all of the tuition. This year, with the problems in the rice market, the schools is barely getting anything, according to Enselm Simpliste, the school’s principal.

Simpliste isn’t angry that Haitians in Port-au-Prince got free rice. But, he’s sorry there hasn’t been any help up here, away from the earthquake zone. One foreigner came a few months ago and asked what they need, he says. But they haven’t heard from him since.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/06/10/127750586/how-foreign-aid-is-hurting-haitian-farmers