HAITI Media and Telecoms Landscape Guide - Infoasaid

14The decline of agricultureA series of economic measures adopted at the behest of US government in the1970s and early 1980s wrecked havoc with Haitian agriculture and hastened the fallof the Duvalier regime.In 1978, Washington persuaded Haiti and its neighbour, the Dominican Republic, toslaughter their entire pig population in an attempt to eradicate the African swine fluvirus.Haitian pigs were coming down with the disease and US authorities feared that itcould spread to North American pig farms.But the cull hit hard at the incomes of poor rural families.Until then, nearly every Haitian family had possessed at least one pig. This animaloften constituted the family’s most valuable investment.The pigs – known as kochon peyi - were perfectly adapted to Haiti. They could befed on bark and banana leaves and were cheap to raise.Their mass slaughter on the orders of the government caused a great deal ofresentment.A few years later, free market economists advising US President Ronald Reganpersuaded the Duvalier government to cut import tariffs on agricultural commodities.However, Haitian rice farmers soon found themselves undercut by cheaper importsfrom the United States and Thailand.The decline of agriculture has led to an exodus of the rural population to Haiti’s maincities, especially Port-au-Prince.14