The barefoot farmer oversees three teenage workers. They attack weeds with spades in a sunbaked field of peanut plants. Peanuts are a vital cash crop in Haiti.
Farmer Francois Merilus works against a lengthy drought. The harvest from his shriveled plants will be meager. In Haiti, poverty and chronic hunger are big problems. But now, the farmer has another reason for dismay: American aid.
Help or Harm?
The United States has a surplus of American-grown peanuts. Haiti has 140,000 malnourished schoolchildren. America plans to ship 500 metric tons of peanuts to Haiti to be given away as school snacks.
“Foreign peanuts can only make things harder for us,” says Merilus. Critics of the U.S. plan agree. They say free food undercuts the income of local farmers. It also pushes the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation farther still from self-sufficiency.
Marc Cohen is one of those critics. He says the large donation does “nothing to boost capacity in Haiti” and “nothing to address consistent food insecurity.” In other words, it’s a momentary help that doesn’t last. It may even harm Haiti’s own citizens who eke out their livings by addressing the problem inside their borders.
The U.S. government and the United Nations food agency defend the aid program, however. They say it represents only 1.4 percent of Haiti's average annual peanut production. They say critics don't consider how badly struggling children need more nutrition. As many as 30 percent of Haitian youngsters suffer from malnutrition. Plus, after three years of drought, Haiti cannot produce enough food right now.
The humanitarian program calls for packaged, dry-roasted peanuts from U.S. stockpiles to be distributed as morning snacks to youngsters in rural schools. Over 600 schools are already receiving daily hot meals with donated U.S. wheat and peas.
The intention is not to reduce farmers’ options for selling their harvests. In an effort to ensure that does not happen, there will be a monitoring program with the U.N. food agency. The peanuts would go only to the targeted children. They would not make it to the Haitian marketplace.
Haitian economist Camille Chalmers argues that the donation benefits American agricultural businesses more than hungry Haitians. She says reducing U.S. food stockpiles helps American farmers produce even more the next season. The U.S. government subsidizes agricultural excess with monetary support to its farmers. “If the U.S. really wanted to help Haiti,” she says, it would focus on “improving irrigation and farmers’ access to credit.” Those are solutions Chalmers believes would help establish Haiti’s farmers. Then they could become self-sufficient.
But there’s more than just drought and financial limitations that hinders the impoverished nation. Haiti suffers from political instability. It experienced severe soil erosion from cycles of drought and flooding. The nation’s infrastructure, such as roads and utilities, needs maintenance. The result is an all-around flimsy economy. And that’s why Cohen offers caution about the free food fix.
If an instance of aid results in a "consistent policy of shipping U.S. peanuts into a market that has the potential to supply itself,” he says, things may never get better.
Balancing Needs, Present and Future
The Bible is clear that it is right to feed the hungry. (See Proverbs 22:9 and Matthew 25:35.) People need to eat every day. A starving person can’t wait for systems to be established until that meal arrives from the best possible source. Situations of poverty can be dire, and where there is excess food, there is opportunity for relief. Even if our efforts are imperfect, God wants people helping to alleviate others’ suffering. He gives us opportunities to show His care for people of every nation. But only addressing the immediate need is not the whole answer.
The Bible also says that everyone should learn to provide for himself and others as well. (Ephesians 4:28) With so many factors affecting the country’s stability, Haiti needs help getting to the point where that’s possible. But farmers like Francois Merilus want to work. Their desire to provide for themselves and their communities is also right and good.
A complete solution would address the immediate need and a long-term plan. Both should work together to put Haiti on course for producing for its own domestic food needs.
