Seven months after it was struck by a devastating earthquake, Haiti is still in a state of chaos as at least 1.3 million people live in tents with no running water or electricity.
The country’s effort to crawl out of destitution is being hampered by a high cost of living, observers say.
David Chang, a Taiwanese businessman who has been in Haiti for 10 years, said the main problem is the country’s lack of production and the fact that it is largely dependent on imports from the Dominican Republic.
“Even before the earthquake, the cost of living in Haiti was high because it had to import just about everything — from eggs to chicken,” Chang said.
Prices in Haiti have remained relatively stable in the wake of the earthquake largely because of the influx of aid from foreign governments and donations from non-government organizations. Even so, most Haitians cannot afford to buy much.
“Although prices did not go up after the earthquake, cost of living is considered doubly high for those who lost everything in the earthquake,” Chang said.
A staff member at the Taiwan embassy in Haiti said a simple lunch of rice, beans and vegetables can cost as much as 200 Haitian gourde (US$5.00).
This is an astronomical price for Haitians whose daily earnings before the earthquake averaged less than US$2 a day, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti said.
Chang’s Haitian cook said a single egg can cost up to 10 Haitian gourde.
The cost of renting a car in Port-au-Prince can be as high as US$300 per day. By comparison, one can rent a sports utility vehicle in the US for US$80 a day.
The cheapest and therefore most popular type of transportation in Port-au-Prince are “tap-taps” — small, brightly painted pick-up trucks with bench seating and sun covers.
However, the vehicles are privately owned and the fare of seven Haitian Gourde is too much for most Haitians, who are surviving on government handouts and by hawking whatever they can on the streets — from used jeans to roast chicken and barber services.
As part of its efforts to help Haiti recover from the disaster, Taiwan has instructed its agricultural and technical mission in the Caribbean country to teach farmers how to increase production of eggs and chickens.
One of the main aims of the project is to help Haiti reduce its reliance on imports from the Dominican Republic by 25 percent to 30 percent in six years, head of the Taiwan mission Carlos Hsiang (向水松) said.
Participants in the program will be taught the basics of chicken farming. For example, they will learn how to separate egg-laying chickens from meat chickens and which feeds to use for different types of chickens, Hsiang said.
The Taiwan mission will begin the project by giving Haitian farmers chicks to be raised for eggs. Hsiang said the entire process takes only a few months and has a much higher and more efficient return rate than raising cattle or sheep for meat.
The farmers will also be taught how to plant bamboo, which can be used to build chicken coops and to make furniture that can be sold on the market.
The mission is also helping farmers in Haiti to grow crops, such as corn, rice, sorghum and Congo beans.
Unlike other countries in the region, Hsiang said, Haiti lacks adequate refrigeration, and therefore the focus has to be on micro-farming to avoid producing surpluses.
“This is why it is necessary to teach the farmers to raise a variety of crops that they could harvest throughout the year,” he said.
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