DH is reading…

an interview with agronomist Volny Paultre on agrarian reform in Haiti:

Agriculture is part of the solution to the problems of Haiti. But most of the opportunities are not directly in farming. Farming is saturated.

One candidate for the upcoming presidential elections apparently disagrees.

And while not one construction contract has yet been awarded, foreign firms are drumming their fingers. Meanwhile, debris removal hinders progress.

… there is so much debris to dispose of — 20 million to 25 million cubic yards (15 million to 19 million cubic meters), enough to fill the Louisiana Superdome five times — and only one approved dumping site for the entire country, the Port-au-Prince terminal Varreux.

Haitians want agricultural development but is the diaspora listening?

Steve Baragona/VOA

The little reported highlight of the March donor conference at the United Nations was the part about what Haitians in Haiti want. I checked.  Media coverage focused on the billions donated, doubts about whether pledges will be kept and how to track all that money.  Very little ink went into broadcasting what a sample of 1,750 Haitians told donors they want.  And it wasn’t just dignity and respect.

I don’t mean to be flip but the few (seriously, like, three) articles which even mention former Haitian journalist and UN spokesperson Michele Montas’ presentation of survey results focused on airy-fairy demands for inclusion, dignity and respect.  Why the basic prerequisites for healthy human existence is presented as news, I haven’t a clue. But while businessmen are understood to want tangibles like money, property and ownership the poor are frequently reported by others to want some existential reward–like they can eat inclusion, dignity and respect.  The appropriate and more telling question, in keeping with a political and not philosophical discussion, is: what tangibles did the Haitian people demand?