Cornucopia’s Take: Agriculture in Haiti has been in recovery from destructive hurricanes, an earthquake, and prolonged drought. When Hurricane Matthew recently took fruit trees, fishing nets, and homes, it became clear once more that any humanitarian response will need to help repair Haiti’s agriculture.
Hurricane Matthew leaves the farmers and fishermen of Haiti struggling to survive
Miami Herald
by Jacqueline Charles
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MORNE LA SOURCE, Haiti — Marie-Lucienne Duvert looked out from under the eaves of her mud and wood-frame house, as her husband tried to repair the damaged roof above her head, and tried to come to grips with the expanse of devastation staring back.
“There isn’t even a tree left to catch a breeze,” said Duvert, 63, surveying the once-majestic coconut palm trees that now stood like inverted wet mops and the toppled plantains, avocados and dried-breadfruits littering the ground. “This was our livelihood. Now it’s all gone, destroyed.”
Haitian and international authorities are still trying to understand the full economic toll of Hurricane Matthew’s powerful Category 4 winds and flood waters in five of this country’s 10 geographical departments. But the 2.1 million people affected by the storm don’t need a balance sheet to understand their loss.
