The USAID Agroforestry Systems

 An Alternative to Meeting

Haiti's Food, Fiber and Fuel Needs


 A. H. Wahab
Assistant Agricultural
Development Officer


 V. Cusumano
 Chief, Agricultural and
 Rural Development Office
USAID/Haiti, P.O. Box 1634, Port-au-Prince, Haiti


G. W. Koehler
Graduate Intern


 Because of a high ratio of population to arable land, exten-
sive cropping and grazing practices, and ever increasing
demand for fuel and wood products, Haiti's once abundant
forestry resources rapidly are disappearing. The country's cur-
rent forest resources are unlikely to meet growing levels of
demand beyond this century unless consumption and produc-
tion trends are reversed. Concurrently, the removal of forest
cover is causing serious erosion problems and reductions of
agricultural productivity. The US Agency for International
Development has mounted a program of agroforestry that em-
phasizes the rapid propagation and distribution of improved
multipurpose tree crop species throughout Haiti to address


these problems. The underlying premise of the program is
that Haitian peasants will intercrop forest, fruit and food crops
and indirectly address the problems of deforestation and ero-
sion provided acceptable returns are foreseen from such prac-
tices. Through technical and socioeconomic research, efficient
nursery techniques, and extension through local organiza-
tions, the program has planted over 11 million rapidly matur-
ing multipurpose hardwood and fruit tree seedlings on 20,000
small-farmer plots. Many farmers who participated early in the
program, which commenced in the spring of 1981, are now
harvesting hardwood species for lumber and/or fuel needs.


 The natural resources of Haiti, threatened by the most acute
trends, are in the most deteriorated state of any nation in the
western hemisphere. A few facts and estimates serve to outline
the severity of the situation.
 The population of Haiti is unofficially estimated at over 6
million, with an annual growth rate of 2.2%. The per capital
GNP is the lowest in the western hemisphere at US $300, and is
much lower than this in the rural areas where 80% of the popula-
tion lives. Average per capital dietary intake is 20% deficient in
calories per day, and 31% deficient in protein consumption
(AID, 1983). Haiti has a total area of 2.8 million hectares (ha), or
10,714 square miles. Over 60% of the land has a slope of 20% or
greater. Only 29% of the land is considered suitable for
agricultural cultivation, but 43% of the land is actually used, in-
cluding many steep slopes.
 The rivers of Haiti run brown with the sediment they carry due
to soil and streambank erosion, which has been described as the
most severe in the world. As a result, soil water-holding capacity
is decreased, which leads to pseudo-droughts, irrigation systems
and water reservoirs becoming inoperable, and soils rendered in-
fertile. Agricultural production decreased 2.5% annually during
the period 1970-1979, and has declined further in recent years. In
the 1960s, USAID/USDA estimated that erosion was affecting
80% of the arable land (Zerbe et al., 1980). Today, one-third of
the originally arable land is no longer useful for agricultural pro-
duction because of soil erosion.
 Cropland expansion onto steep slopes contributes to soil ero-
sion, but the primary cause is deforestation due to charcoal pro-
duction.One-third of Haiti, 933,000 ha, is classified as forest
lands, but most of this area is lightly stocked, degraded land.
There are very few areas of dense forest remaining. Rural Haitians
realize the importance of tree cover to soil conservation, but sur-
vival needs for fuel and income contribute to the continuing
trend of tree cutting.
 Fuelwood provides 72% of Haiti's energy needs. Ninety-five
 percent of wood consumption is for energy. Because of limita-


 VOL. XX-PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY


tions on other indigenous energy sources, fuelwpod will continue
to be used for energy supply. Fuelwood consumption is expected
to increase 3 % annually through the rest of the century. Natural
wood production on the sparse woodlands, which comprise about
three-fourths of Haiti's forest land, is estimated at about
1m3/ha/year. There is currently a fuelwood production-
consumption deficit of 2.4 million m3 per year. The wood con-
tent of the sparse woodlands is estimated at 30 m3/ha, and it is
estimated that about 80,000 ha are stripped annually to meet the
demand deficit (World Bank Forestry Project, 1982). At this rate
the forests of Haiti will disappear within a decade.
 The loss of the remaining forest cover would further worsen the
soil erosion and food production problems, and would also
adversely alter the current climatic patterns. Also, Haiti would
become entirely dependent on costly imported energy, to be paid
for by scarce foreign exchange.
 Amidst this gloomy portrait of ecological degradation, it
should be pointed out that Haiti is not a cursed land. It has been
blessed with lands and a climate that can provide bountiful
harvests if managed wisely. The USAID Agroforestry Program
was developed towards this end. The purpose of this paper is to
describe the program and to report on some important ac-
complishments in terms of dealing with Haiti's environmental
degradation problems.

Program Description
Institutional The USAID Agroforestry Program was designed
to utilize the strengths of both large and small scale organiza-
tions. Through various approaches, it provides a testing ground
in which to identify institutional designs which can be successful-
ly used in subsequent projects. Program development has been
an unmet need in Haitian reforestation for a long time. Large
programs have had to deal with long start up times, burdensome
administrative details, and learning to operate in unfamiliar local
environments. On the other hand, the medium and small scale
non-governmental development organizations (NGOs) which


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