Haiti’s Food Security Challenges

The document argues that Haiti's food insecurity is not merely a result of natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew or the 2010 earthquake, but is rooted in human policies. Specifically, it identifies structural adjustment and trade liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s—driven by the World Bank, IMF, and USAID—as catalysts that decimated local rice production in favor of cheap U.S. imports. This shift led to rural-urban migration, increased poverty, and a dependency on imports that leaves the population vulnerable. The author calls for a shift from short-term humanitarian aid to long-term investment in Haitian agriculture and the restoration of protective tariffs.

• Haiti's extreme vulnerability to natural disasters is primarily the result of human and international policies rather than inevitable environmental conditions.
• Hurricane Matthew (October 2016) caused severe agricultural losses, including nearly 100% harvest loss in the South and up to 80% in some south-east areas, exacerbating a crisis already worsened by two years of drought.
• Economic liberalization and structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and 1990s, designed by the IMF and World Bank, ended Haiti's rice self-sufficiency and created a heavy dependency on U.S. imports.
• USAID strategies in the early 1980s intentionally sought to shift 30% of cultivated land from local food production to export crops, predicting and accepting a 'massive shift' of the population out of agriculture and into urban areas.
• The lack of food security has directly contributed to social and political instability, exemplified by huge street protests in Port-au-Prince during the international rice price spikes of 2007 and 2008.
• International donors have consistently neglected long-term agricultural investment in favor of short-term emergency aid; for example, a 2010 National Agricultural Investment Plan seeking USD 772 million received little follow-up support.

APA

Hauge, W. I. (2016). Haiti’s Food Security Challenges. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6238b331-a5fd-42b3-b761-34f15732108c/Hauge - Haitis Food Security Challenges PRIO Policy Brief 28-2016.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Hauge, Wenche Iren. Haiti’s Food Security Challenges. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2016. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6238b331-a5fd-42b3-b761-34f15732108c/Hauge - Haitis Food Security Challenges PRIO Policy Brief 28-2016.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hauge |first1=Wenche Iren |title=Haiti’s Food Security Challenges |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2016 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6238b331-a5fd-42b3-b761-34f15732108c/Hauge - Haitis Food Security Challenges PRIO Policy Brief 28-2016.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hauge2016haitis, author = {Hauge, Wenche Iren}, title = {{Haiti’s Food Security Challenges}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2016}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6238b331-a5fd-42b3-b761-34f15732108c/Hauge - Haitis Food Security Challenges PRIO Policy Brief 28-2016.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }