Port-au-Prince, Haiti

LAND and CLIMATE:

Haiti possesses some of the most rugged terrain of the Caribbean islands. Its mountain systems and the parallel ribbons of lowland hat separate them are oriented in an east-west trend. To the north there is the Massif du Nord, which belongs to the main mountain backbone of Hispaniola (called the Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic). To the south there is a long and relatively narrow mountainous peninsula formed by the Massif de la Hotte and Massif de la Selle. The latter contains the countryšs highest peak, Pic La Selle, 8,793 feet (2,680 meters) above sea level. Between the mountain ranges, central Haiti is characterized by alternating uplands (Chaine des Mateux and Montagnes Noires) and lowlands (the Cul de Sac, the valley of the river Artibonite, and the Plaine Centrale). The nationšs capital, Port-au-Prince, is located in the Cul de Sac depression. In the northeast around Cap-Haitien there is a patch of lowland called the Plaine du Nord.

The complexity of terrain is matched by a wide variety of climatic conditions. Tropical conditions resulting from the low latitude of between 17° and 20° N. are modified by the trade winds, the surrounding ocean, and high elevations. In most areas, however, temperatures are moderately high and vary little from season to season. Rainfall is normally higher on mountain slopes that receive the northeasterly trade winds and decreases on leeward slopes and in major valleys, especially in the Cul de Sac and the Artibonite Valley. The lowlands of central Haiti are so dry that fields must be irrigated for crops. Prolonged droughts in 1965, 1975, 1977, and 1980 affected coffee and sugar exports and led to a severe food shortage. Hurricanes also had a devastating effect on Haitian agriculture in 1979 and 1980. Earthquakes are another hazard. Port-au-Prince was destroyed twice in the 18th century, and Cap-Haitien had a similar fate in 1842.

ECONOMY:

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The economy is heavily dependent on farming, which employs 60 percent of the labor force. Only 30 percent of the territory is considered suitable for cultivation, but population growth has forced many farmers to occupy marginal areas, and about half of the land is actually in agriculture. Ever since the French sugar plantations were destroyed in the struggle for independence, Haitian agriculture has been carried out mainly on small peasant farms that become increasingly fragmented through inheritance. Cultivation is principally by hand, using such simple tools as hoes or machetes. Few farmers can afford fertilizers or insecticides. The low productivity is not keeping up with the annual population growth rate of 1.7 percent, and at least 15 percent of food requirements is imported. The entire population of pigs was destroyed in 1983 African swine fever.

The principal cash crops are coffee, sugar, sisal, and essential oils. Coffee generates a third of Haitišs income from exports. Sugar production has fallen dramatically because of growing local consumption and the production of rum.

The industrial sector is small and concentrated in Port-au-Prince There are few medium-sized factories, which produce cement, vegetable oil, flour, refined sugar, canned goods, and matches. The most significant development from the 1960s has been the rapid growth of light industry, which produces at least 25 percent of Haitišs export revenues. More that 200 foreign companies have been attracted to Haiti by the low cost of labor, the absence of employment legislation, and exemption from taxes. Most light industries specialize in the labor-intensive assembly of components shipped from the United States to produce sports goods, clothing, toys, and electrical goods. Haitišs industry now employs 7 percent of the labor force. Additional revenue once came from bauxite mines, but resources are now exhausted, and the aluminum company closed its Haitian plant in 1983.

Another major source of income, the tourist industry, has had severe difficulties since 1980 with Haiti receiving 2 percent of Caribbean tourism. The nationšs road system consists of 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) of main roads, of which only 20 percent are paved. Most unpaved roads are impassable in the rainy season, and produce for local markets is largely transported by burro or by humans. Haitišs average income is the lowest in the Western Hemisphere by a considerable margin (US $380 per annum, 1991 figures) and vast disparities exist between the incomes of rich and poor. The world bank estimates that 85 percent of the people live below the absolute poverty line. Two-thirds of the employed population work in agriculture, mainly in the coffee plantations which generate 25 percent of Haitišs export earnings. Sugar cane, sweet potatoes, cocoa, and sisal are also grown for export. Coffee earnings suffered from droughts during the 1980s and the collapse in the world price. Market factors also affected receipts from bauxite mining, another key economic sector which at one stage ground to a complete halt. The rest of the manufacturing sector involves food processing, metal products, and textiles. Tourism, once promising, has all but vanished through the countryšs chronic political instability. Haitišs infrastructure, moreover, is so poorly developed as to render any significant economic development virtually impossible. Recent estimates hold that GDP fell by 30 percent during the 1991-1994 rule of the military junta and that unemployment remains at an extraordinary 80 percent. Haiti relies for most of its finance on overseas aid, particularly from the USA, but also from multilateral bodies such as the IMF. The bulk of Haitišs trade also takes place with the USA.

PEOPLE

The inhabitants of Haiti are descendants of African slaves brought by French colonists too grow sugar in the 17th and 18th centuries. Ten percent still speak French, and most are nominally Roman Catholics, but the culture retains African roots. Ninety percent speak a Creole patois that is basically a mixture of French, Spanish, and English. Most Haitians practice voodoo, a combination of African and Roman Catholic beliefs that involves rituals of dance, music, magic, and cults of the dead.

The staple elements of the diet are corn, cassavas, millet, rice, and fruits. As the average annual income of rural Haitians is less that 100 dollars, people rarely eat meat, fish, or eggs. Malnutrition among the rural poor is high, and malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis are endemic. Most physicians live in Port-au-Prince, resulting in ratio of only one for every 30,000 rural inhabitants. The rate of literacy is 39 percent. For every teacher in the countryside there are 550 school-age children, and only 5 percent of those who begin school complete primary studies.