18 October 2016 (02:09 UTC-07 Tango 01) 27 Mehr 1395/16 Muharram 1438/18 Wu Zu 4714

“We lost cows, and all of our crops. Nothing is left. And our homes are destroyed!”-Geffrard Duplessis, farmer

“The south-west is dominated by rural communities with only 22% Urban. Coffee and other agriculture are key to these locations.”–reliefweb.int

Don’t blame Hurricane Matthew for all the death and destruction in Haiti; corporate coffee  and cocoa operations, which required massive deforestation of Haiti’s mountain region, shares most of the blame for the killer landslides.

This photo shows the massive deforestation of Haiti, compared to its next door neighbor Dominican Republic

It’s interesting that Hurricane Matthew hit right where ‘western’ food corporations encouraged farmers to develop coffee, cocoa and rubber tree plantations (natural rubber tree ops disappeared after the oil industry succeeded in making mass produced synthetic rubber), which required the destruction of the old growth forests.  According to a New York Times article the deforestation was accelerated after the U.S. occupation of Haiti in the 1930s.  By the 1950s deforestation was complete.

Certified Gone?

“The National Institute of Coffee Haiti informs that more than 35,800 hectares [88,463 acres] of coffee have been devastated…”–Haiti Libre

“As well as tearing up food staples and filling fields with sea water and trash, the storm uprooted plantations of cocoa, coffee and fruit trees, cash crops that are exported and that experts said will take at least five years to grow back.”–Reuters

Now many of those coffee and cocoa plantations are washed away so expect prices for coffee and chocolate to go up.  The hurricane hit right when hopes were high about Haiti’s chocolate industry being able to boost its economy: “With 98 percent of their trees gone, Haitians eye cocoa-based agroforestry as a way to combat poverty and renew the land.”–Alternet

Already U.S. coffee retailers are asking customers to fork over hard earned cash to rebuild those plantations. Minnesota based Pelican Coffee Shop promises to donate 100% of its coffee bean profits to hurricane relief efforts in Haiti.

By the way, the official hurricane death toll has surpassed 1-thousand humans in Haiti, and mass-famine is expected within six months due to most of the farmland being washed away.

September 2016 U.S. Food Crisis:  IT’S OFFICIAL; MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. FARM WORKERS ARE ILLEGAL! FARMERS BIGGEST WELFARE PROGRAM?