How have environmental problems affected the Haitian rice market?
Deleterious agrarian techniques employed by Haitian farmers also compounded the rice controversy on the island. In just the past 20 years, the population of Haiti exploded by three million people, resulting in the implementation of intensive farming techniques by Haitian farmers in order to compensate for the rapidly increasing population on the island. This unsustainable form of cultivation led to serious environmental degradation in agrarian areas across the island. These damaging agricultural practices have substantially increased levels of soil erosion, decreasing the overall productivity as well as acreage of arable land. Startling proof is found in a 1988 report, cited by Paul Farmer in his classic The Uses of Haiti: Haitian soil could only produce .90 units of rice per hectare. In comparison, the report found that the Dominican Republic, its sole neighboring state on the island, could produce 2.67 units per hectare, Mexico 3.28, and the U.S. 5.04. Furthermore, as Haiti experienc
