Haiti’s Poor Rely On Mud Pies To Survive

I'm just dumbfounded,  . . . . . speechless. But, isn't there an agancy, body or something in the UN that's supposed to help out very poor countries like Haiti in times like these?

The last days are upon us. Let him that hath the spirit of understanding know the time of His coming is indeed very short.

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At least something is being done. I hope it doesn't end up like many incentives like operation feed the nation from you know where.

@ stillwater
 
take it easy on the negativity, things are being done in naija as well, agricultural output has risen at 7% each year for a number of years now.

Back to topic, this is very heart breakingone of the unfortunate by-products of the Bush driven ethanol craze. Food crops should not be used for fuel as yet till the worst of hunger is tackled. The worsening food inflation worldwide may make more incidences like these common if a way isn't found to remedy the situation.

Things like these just go to show where nation's priorities lie - you'll spend billions of dollars daily to wage war in Iraq, but a poor country in the same time-zone faces crushing poverty with little or no help. Go figure.

Escalating food prices are mainly a result of economic development in China and India.You can add the negative effects of climate change and the bio-ethanol industry.

The situation will get even more dire in the coming years.I started a thread earlier about ithttp://www.nairaland.com/nigeria?topic=125330.msg2126319#msg2126319.I wonder what plans Nigeria has to deal with this issue.

Nigerian statistics are not to be trusted.However,export figures have been strong,showing growing output.Of course,it will take more than 7% annual growth in output to solve our domestic needs.

Escalating prices has been the trend for close to a decade.The key growth factors has been rising demand in India and China.

If output was growing at a significant pace,wouldn't that slow down food price inflation in Nigeria? Instead,the feedback has been that inflation in Nigeria,like other parts of Africa,has been galloping at a high pace.

It also depends on which particular agricultural products underlie these Govt figures.If its simply export oriented products like cocoa,cashew,cotton,e.t.c,then the average Nigerian won't feel the effects when they go shopping for their food.

Its either output growth hasn't been that significant or much of the growth is export oriented.It could also be a combination of the two.

i just hope the g8,european union and the rest of them will have a look at the agricultural rebate and allow everybody a fair advantage,at least then at least farmers mostly in africa will be able to compete in the world market and the haitians and others will get enough food cheaper and faster

i doubt they would cut out farm subsidies. u think the farmer in iowa or nebraska is concerned about high food prices. they are happy about this.

The people need food aid?? ok,  so who is going to provide them this food aid?? Whose money is to be used?? and why ??

Don't be an idiot. Where does it say that other countries HAVE to help all the time? People are starving all over the world. In Darfur, iin Somalia, in North Korea, in Asia. You should ask yourself what you've done to help your fellow man.

How many orphanages do YOU visit? How many nairalanders give to charities? You'll be surprised at the answer.

haiti may have been isolated after the revolution but it's issues were worsened due to corruption and the mullatto-negra rivalry in the country.  u would be surprised what papa doc, baby doc and aristide did to that country. domestic policies are a major factor.

it seems the world bank is coming to their aid.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/finance_meetings

well most black activists are all talk and no action.  africans countries individually are unable to help each other since they have issues on their own. 


i'm not sure if haitians eat cassava(well in the form of garri). what makes u think has enough reserves in staple foods to start dashing away. countries are stocking up rather than giving away.  the blame falls on haiti for decades of deforestation and degrading the quality of agriculture in haiti.  aid isn't the solution, they have to learn how to fend 4 themselves.

Wasn't there a Nigerian peace keeper who was killed in Haiti?

A Nigerian United Nations (UN) peacekeeper has been killed by rioters in Haiti protesting high food price in the Caribbean country.
The yet-to-be-identified soldier was shot dead on Saturday in Port-au-Prince where the protest forced the country's parliament to sack its Prime Minister, Mr Jacques-Edouard  Alexis.
Witnesses say the Nigerian peacekeeper was dragged from his marked car and shot as he was taking food to colleagues at a police station in the capital.
In the clothing market where the police officer was killed, other peacekeepers took up positions as several stalls on both sides of the street smoldered after being set on fire, The Associated Press reported.
Witnesses said other Nigerian police officers later fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse the crowd before recovering the slain man's body. Soon after, the market stalls could be seen burning.
A Nigerian commander of UN troops at the scene, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said the victim was a 36-year-old Nigerian soldier.
There are about 9,000 Brazilian-led UN peacekeepers and civilian police in Haiti. The force was sent in after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in an armed rebellion in 2004
In a similar situation last year, seven Nigerian soldiers were killed when rebel forces stormed a small African Union (AU) base in northern Darfur killing some from the African Union mission.
Nigeria, a peacekeeper in the world, has sent troops to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Congo and elsewhere. It has suffered losses before, particularly when Nigerian troops helped battle rebels trying to seize the capitals of Liberia and Sierra Leone.
In Darfur, a Nigerian, Gen. Martin Agwai, commands the AU force of 7,000. Nigeria has one battalion, or about 800 troops, in Darfur now and has said it will likely send another battalion to join a joint AU-UN force that was to replace the current AU force.
Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, has been shaken by riots over increased food prices, and protesters have repeatedly clashed with UN peacekeepers and local police in recent days.
The peacekepers have continued  to struggle for control over armed gangs.
In January 2006, two Jordanian peacekeepers were killed in Cité Soleil.
 In October 2006 a heavily armed group of the Haitian National Police were able to enter Cité Soleil for the first time in three years and were able to remain one hour as armored UN troops patrolled the area.
Since this is where the armed gangs take their kidnap victims, the police's ability to penetrate the area even for such a short time was seen as a sign of progress.
The situation of continuing violence is similar in Port-au-Prince. Ex-soldiers, supporters of the ex-president, occupied the home of ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide against the wishes of the Haitian government.
Before Christmas 2006 the UN force announced that it would take a tougher stance against gang members in Port-au-Prince, but since then the atmosphere there has not improved and the armed roadblocks and barbed wire barricades have not been moved. After four people were killed and another six injured in a UN operation exchange of fire with criminals in Cité Soleil in late January 2007, the United States announced that it would contribute $20 million to create jobs in Cité Soleil.
Earlier Saturday in Haiti, Parliament voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, despite a last-minute announcement by President René Preval of an emergency 15 per cent cut in the price of rice.
Mr. Preval said the cost difference would be paid for by both the private sector and international donors.
Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in the past week to protest high prices. Protesters clashed with UN. peacekeepers as they tried to storm the National Palace in the capital of Port-Au-Prince.
At least five people were killed in demonstrations throughout the island nation.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been hard hit by global increases in food costs.
On Saturday the commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti told reporters that calm was returning to the country. But within hours, a UN policeman from Nigeria was pulled from his marked car and killed in Port-au-Prince.
Mr. Préval, a former agronomist who is in his second term as president, met earlier in the day with food importers at the presidential palace and emerged to announce new measures that he said would knock the price of a 50-pound bag of rice from $51 to $43, a nearly 16 per cent reduction. In the poorest country in the hemisphere, that discount could mean the difference between eating and going hungry for many destitute families.
Rice is a Haitian staple, often mixed in the slums with chicken feet to create a flavorful stew. To reduce prices, Mr. Préval said he would use international aid money combined with commitments from the private sector to reduce profit margins.
The vote against Prime Minister Alexis means Mr. Préval must reconstitute his government, which he said he would do promptly. Mr. Alexis had managed to withstand a previous no-confidence vote but this time 16 of the 17 senators voted against him, wire services reported.
The tumult is nothing new in Haiti, a fragile country with a history of political turnover that is being held together largely through the presence of the UN peacekeeping mission. The Bush administration considers Mr. Préval's 2006 election and Haiti's relative stability in recent years to be one of its success stories, although State Department officials caution that the country remains volatile.
With the recent demonstrations, the Coast Guard has said it is on the lookout for mass emigration.
It is unclear how the president's move will affect tensions. Even after the UN police officer was killed, much of Port-au-Prince seemed largely tranquil.
Rising food prices are a global concern, with some estimates putting the increase as high as 40 per cent since mid-2007.
In Haiti, though, where the bulk of the population lives on less than $2 a day, the effects have been especially acute. In one slum of Port-au-Prince, a woman sat before a large pot of chicken feet and water recently, selling stew without rice. She said the rice was too costly.
Preval announced Sunday that the country's new prime minister would be nominated by the parliament to replace ousted Jacques Edouard Alexis, said reports reaching here from Port-au-Prince.
Alexis was dismissed by a Senate non-confidence vote Saturday for his failure to curb rising food prices and eliminating poverty.
The appointment went to the House and the Senate since no single party holds a majority in the parliament.

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=108599

AND THE WORLD KEEPS LAUGHING AT THE BLACK RACE. Toussaint and the likes must be rolling in their graves

Just out of interest though, what has the ministry of agriculture done or accomplished in the last 9 to ten years? I still don't understand why we can't feed the Nation and why we need to import things like rice? Even egypt that is mostly desert has one of the most advanced agricultural sectors in the world, so what is Nigeria doing? what is the minister doing? I think we might need to apply a more hands on approach to people in power before we start getting a repeat of what happened in the health ministry where 300million naira was spent as unspent money and yet how many good world class hospitals can we boast off? Money is allocated to agriculture after all right?