#1.
Poor countries are prevented from developing their agricultural sectors.
In Haiti, tariffs on American rice were slashed from 50% to 3%. This rice, from North Carolina, Louisiana, and Bill Clinton’s home state of Arkansas, was subsidized by the US government at the rate of 41%.
Haiti, a country with a population of 10 million people, is the 3rd largest importer of American rice globally.
75% of the rice eaten in Haiti is from the US.
Prior to the introduction of highly subsidized American rice, Haitian farmers were able to grow all the rice needed in their country.
Discussion question: What effects has this US agricultural policy had on nutrition in Haiti?
#2. The IMF insists that the policies forged in Washington are not the primary problem causing food insecurity in Haiti.
The IMF official in the video stated that “I think Haiti’s economic problems are mostly Haitian problems in this century. In the case of Haiti, I think Haiti’s main problem is not trade policy. Haiti’s main problem are these very, very big structural weaknesses that have held back effective growth”
Discussion questions: What is your response to this statement? Do Haiti’s current economic problems have anything to do with its colonial past? What are the sources of the “structural weaknesses” that held back effective growth?
#3. The democratically elected Haitian president, Dr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was returned to power in 1994 after being deposed by a CIA-led coup in 1990. He had to accept an IMF-dictated program which called for maintaining low wages, privatization of state enterprises, deregulation, and the elimination of tariffs and other controls on imports.
Discussion question: How did this IMF program lead to nutrition problems for the Haitian people?
