Such a model could be adopted for other agricultural products to give rural Haitians the income they need even more desperately since the earthquake, as many people who were living in Port-au-Prince have returned to the countryside.
It is not just agricultural production that could be significantly improved. There is a tremendous amount of unrealised potential in Haiti. For instance, when a group of school pupils from Cap-Haïtian were sponsored to take part in a competition to design and remotely control a small robot , held at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, they won, beating 47 other US teams.
There is also tourism. Haiti is in the Caribbean, after all. To develop this potential, however, significant investment would be needed to build beach resorts in the way that neighbouring Dominican Republic has done.
This investment does not necessarily need to come from outside Haiti. At the moment, the Haitian state levies a very small amount of tax compared with other countries in the region. The wealthy in Haiti – and there are some – have almost no tax liability. The tax office was also destroyed in the earthquake, which compounded the problem. Many employers simply stopped paying tax for their employees as a result. Christian Aid has made a point of continuing to collect tax and is now forwarding this money to the Haitian government on a monthly basis.
Revenue from a fair taxation system is the best source of funding for rebuilding Haiti. Democratically accountable politicians in Haiti would be responsible for allocating spending. When a country is largely dependent on foreign aid for funding social and infrastructure projects, the people have little say over how it is spent.
Haiti will still need foreign assistance for at least 15 years, but it is incumbent on all Haitians to take responsibility for building a future for the country based on its own resources and talent, which are abundant.