#importtax

Kore Pwodiksyon Nasyonal la!

Ayiti

“Support national production,” is the message on Steve Pierre’s shirt. Pierre manages the cold room at Haiti Broilers chicken production operation in Lafiteau, where products are labeled with the slogan “Fierté d'Haiti” or “Haiti’s Pride.” Since expanding to Haiti in 2011, the Jamaican company employs more than 200 Haitians.

National agricultural production took a massive hit in Haiti in the mid-1990s, when the Haitian government, under pressure from the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund, dramatically lowered its import tariffs. The country has yet to recover.

Rice production plummeted and the burgeoning chicken market collapsed as Haiti became a country of imports.

The imported chicken is sold in the form of frozen parts. The U.S. consumers buy the white meat, which covers the cost of the bird, and the dark meat—the drums, the feet, the thighs—is shipped to Haiti.

“They dump it over here,” said Larry Alexander, a Haiti Broilers operator.

To increase production, the tariff will have to be increased, a viewpoint shared by those at every level of production. In the meantime, the smallholder chicken farmers and those at Haiti Broilers seek to expand incrementally, pushing quality over cost to their buyers.

Image and caption by Jamie McGee. Haiti, 2016.