Soil conservation in Haiti

Excerpt

FEW nations face a more serious environmental situation than Haiti, where environmental devastation is evident even to the most casual observer. It was not always so. Before its independence, Haiti exported more wealth to France than the combined total of France's other overseas dominions; the value of its exports even exceeded that from the North American colonies to England (1, 2). It is in this past that Haiti's land degradation has its roots.

Haiti is located on the western third of the island of Hispaniola. Although 50 percent of the country's land surface produces agricultural crops, only about 10 percent is suitable for irrigation and mechanized farming. Much of Haiti's agriculture takes place on steep slopes where, each year, farmers abandon about 15,000 acres (6,000 ha) of land to erosion (4). Per capita cereal production is declining about 2 percent annually. A 30 percent decline in per capita cereal production occurred from 1965 to 1983 (9).

Land degradation and its effects

Agriculture has always been important to Haiti. Although tobacco, soon followed by indigo, provided Haiti its initial wealth, sugar dominated Haiti's economy. By 1740 Haiti had more than 3,000 sugar mills servicing about 74,000 …