Haiti Is Harvesting Its Cotton Crop After A '30 Years Hiatus’ As A Reforestation Agenda


01/26/2018

The local farmers are excited to be reintroduced with a crop that was being cultivated by their parents and grandparents, while not to mention the prospect of increment in their income, while carrying out a reforestation effort around the area.


Dailycsr.com – 26 January 2018 – Sometimes in August 2017, Timberland partnered with “Smallholder Farmers Alliance” of Haiti to plant “cotton seeds at a trial site near Gonaives”. The said step was taken with the intention of re-introducing cotton cultivation in Haiti and to put an end to “30 year hiatus”.
 
Within a period of four months, the cotton plants grew up with a thriving health and can be observed “at various stages of maturing”, whereby all the fifteen varieties of cotton are “being tested” and they scheduled to be harvest by the end of this month.
 
Cotton was the “fourth largest agricultural export” of Haiti. However sometimes in the “late 1980’s” the said farming practice ceased. As the time changes and with a “feasibility study” at hand, confirming that “now” is the “appropriate time to re-launch” agriculture in the area, the “Smallholder Farmers Alliance” joined hands with “Timberland and Vans” and integrated “cotton farming” with a “proven” reforestation programme of SFA and also to increase “crop yields” as well as the farmers’ income at Haiti.
 
The Smallholder Famers Alliance’s President as well as the Co-founder, Hugh Locke said:
“The farmers are excited because their parents and grandparents grew cotton. They remember cotton fields from their childhood and a time when farming was more profitable. Our work to bring cotton growing back to Haiti evokes treasured memories.  As our field trial cotton plants mature, we are taking the necessary steps to ensure those cultural memories evolve into new opportunities for Haitian farmers.”
 
Following the expected harvest of cotton by the end of January, SFA plans on testing the samples for determining the “best varieties” which would be chosen to grow in the “second planting” around which is expected to take place in the month of August 2019.
 
 
 
References:
3blmedia.com