She said foreign donors, multilateral lenders and aid groups must concentrate on making Haiti economically self-sustainable, especially in food, after the quake, if the country can ever hope to escape from its poverty trap.
Barjon said imports of rice, sugar and poultry, largely from the United States, were $550 million a year. "If Haiti was able to produce all these things, and it can ... we would reduce our annual trade deficit by 50 percent," she said.
"The mills and plants for sugar, rice and poultry are there. What they need are investments to restart." (ibid.)
As a matter of fact, the sugar mill we were about to visit this day is headed by Regine, who is also the CEO of "BioTek Solutions Inc, a U.S.-based company that is proposing a public-private partnership for the Darbonne mill." (ibid.)Regine Simon-Barjon was the heart, soul, and conscience of the Haiti "reconstruction" conference at the Sofitel Miami Hotel on March 9-10. The International Peace Operations Association (IPOA) sponsored the event in conjunction with the UK firm, Global Investment Summits Ltd. (source and for more on Barjon)
And we were now following up on the economic realities she had described within Haiti with our own eyes and ears, starting with Le Bourg the previous evening. Raymond not only explained what was happening in Haiti economically and socially and what was needed to improve the situation, but he also made the contacts necessary that would now allow us to visit the one and only functioning sugar mill in Haiti, the Darbonne.
Back in the Dodge Raider, we were driving outside of Là ©ogà ne as we approached the mill, bouncing past fields of sugarcane, emaciated animals and roadside food stands and businesses once again until finally a large sign in front of a huge plant signaled that we had reached our destination:
This is near the entranceway to the sugar mill. The mill was constructed in the early 1980s with the aid of Italian technicians, but, due to the flooding of the country's markets with cheap foreign sugar, could not compete or even stay open after several luckless years. It sat idle and deteriorating for years until Haitian President Rene Preval invited the Cuban government to help him reopen it. Fidel Castro graciously sent engineers and other technicians to help get it up and running again in 2001. Cuban engineers are still an integral part of the mill's operations to this day.
After we identified ourselves and security let us in the gate, we were directed to the admin building. After exchanging salutations, we were introduced to our host for the day, a bright and jovial young official who was going to take us on a literal cook's tour of the mill, explaining all of the processes involved in transforming sugarcane into refined sugar.
We are rapidly approaching the conveyor assembly moving the broken-down essences of the sugarcane from one building to the next.
Holding tanks to the right and the tall stacks on the left releasing gases from the boilers that are going to superheat the raw essences of sugar during the long and complicated processes involved in producing granulated sugar.
Georgianne stops to take some photos.
A closeup of the boilers and other equipment and machinery involved in processing.
But first we have to get to the starting point, the sugarcane itself. After it is cut it has to be quickly delivered to the mill, because sugarcane deteriorates rapidly. After it is received, it must be washed off and piled up as seen here.
Our host is intricately explaining every step involved in the processing. I was fascinated. He also began to tell us about the problems confronting the business. This is a large scale production plant, capable of great output, but currently, he explained, for those same reasons that I cited above, its output is only some 25% of its capacity. There is simply not enough Haitian sugarcane being grown to increase production. This must change, and rapidly.
But to return to the sugarcane holding yard, heavy forklifts now pick up the cane to load it on the conveyor belts.
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