Many people ask me why don’t we buy all of our rice in Haiti from the rice farmers? I wish we could… Haiti does not have enough rice to feed itself!
Haiti only produces enough rice to feed 5% of its population. Most of the rice is grown in the Artibonite Valley. President Jovenel, to his credit, has installed some very big irrigation pumps to try to improve future rice production. Right now there is no Haitian rice that we know of anywhere available to buy. The harvest of Haitian rice happens during September, October, and November. Haitians have different levels of rice. The highest-priced is the TCS rice, and then the cheaper “Shela rice.” We don’t know why, but Haitian rice is always higher than imported rice.
One thing I believe, which has hurt and discouraged many rice farmers, is that during the 1990s, President Bill Clinton cut the tariffs on imported rice and flooded the Haitian market. The Haitian rice farmer could not compete with the cheap important “tariff-free” rice. President Clinton realized later that he made a mistake and publicly apologized. Since then, to this day, many companies ship cheap rice to Haiti to sell.
Another thing that has hurt the Haitian rice farmer, is that they are susceptible to natural disasters, political instability, irregular rainfall, the worsening economic condition, and food insecurity. Now, in addition, there is the awful, unbelievable “devaluation of the Haitian dollar to the American dollar.”
We here at Love A Child give out at no cost to the Haitian people, the imported “Feed My Starving Children Mana Pack meals.” Later this week, I’m going to give you the ingredients which are inside the FMSC Mana Packs. It’s wonderful, and packed full of vitamins and minerals!
When we are short of our FMSC Mana Pack meals, we buy rice from the port where the ships come in. We buy our “27.5-pound sacks” of Mega rice, “top premium,” to give to the Haitian families. We don’t buy the “cheaper rice,” but the “top premium” for the Haitian people and their children.
Praise the Lord! We just bought a container load of black dry beans (42,500 pounds) which is being shipped to Haiti now. Thank you Joyce Meyer Ministries — Hand of Hope for sponsoring this container of beans! If anyone else would like to help with a container of beans, the cost is $9,650.00. Please pray…
The Haitians we deal with love rice and beans! They want it every day! When we give them “fresh fish,” oh, what a day! When we feed the poor, it fills our hearts with joy. Jesus said, “when we do it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40
Missionary Bobby Burnette