We’ve been hearing a lot recently about all the excess rain and dangerous flooding in many parts of America, while in Haiti they really need more rain. But heavy rain can be even worse in Haiti, where the soil is shallow and fragile, and there is no lush vegetation to catch any rain, so rainfall becomes sheets of fast-moving water running down the mountains, carrying with it any topsoil there might be, causing erosion.

This week, our Sustainable Agriculture students at the Agricultural Training Center (ATC) have been learning about methods of water conservation, soil conservation, and erosion control. Wilner is teaching the students the seven principles of “slope treatment and management” below.

1. vegetative strips (grass strips, live hedges, food-producing hedgerows)
2. making “wattle” fencing (or low woven-stick fences)
3. brushwood bundles placed in the way of runoff water
4. dry-stone earthworks and low rock walls
5. agroforestry, using trees to anchor soil and soften the impact from rainfall
6. creating flat terraces across the sloping hillsides to catch water and grow vegetation
7. digging contour canals across the slopes to catch water and divert it

The main idea of these principles is to slow water runoff, change its course so it doesn’t cause erosion, and allow it more time to soak into the ground. Rainwater itself doesn’t cause erosion, but the fast-moving water running down hillsides does, so efforts should be toward “slowing, spreading, and soaking.”

These pictures show the students learning by building rock-based structures that slow the runoff, spread it over broader areas, and allow it time to soak into the ground, controlling erosion and retaining soil. These lessons must be continually used, generation after generation, in order to improve the soil and reclaim the landscape in mountainous Haiti.

Thank you for supporting our sustainability outreach that helps Haitians learn ways to help themselves for years to come.

Rad Hazelip, Assistant Executive Director