Land use and Agriculture In Haiti

1) Describe the land use in Haiti.
Haiti is mostly mountainous, however approximately one third of the land is arable. Once covered by forest, the country has been heavily logged for wood and fuel as well as to clear land for farming, and is now dangerously deforested. The deforestation has contributed to often deadly and sometimes devastating flooding during hurricane seasons. In 2000, 58% of Haiti was agricultured land, 28% was arable and 4.2% was forested, due to the massive earthquake that took place there is no updated information to compare except for that in 2010 the forested land in Haiti reduced to 3.7%.

2) Pros and Cons

I) Monoculture
Pros:
-Reduced plant competition for nutrients, space and solar radiation
-Control of undesirable (unprofitable) organisms
-Reduction of costs by limitation of specialized machinery required for arable operations

Cons:
-Lack of biodiversity
-Single threat can destroy all the crops
-Needs a complex irrigation system
-Diseases/pests spread more effectively in monoculture.

II) Polyculture
Pros:
-Needs less complex irrigation system
-Reduces number of pests, weeds, and disease outbreaks because of increased variety of plants
-More stable type of agriculture
-Consistent income for farmers since they don't need to depend on one type of production

Cons:

-Higher investment in equipment

-Laborious task for farmers

-Farmers need to have knowledge of all their plants since there's such a large diversity

-Difficult for farmers to control and supervise because of the different types of crops

III) Slash and Burn
Pros:
-Removes debris
-Less equipment used for farmers, cheaper
-Returns nutrients to soil
-Crops are recycled on site so decomposition occurs on fields

Cons:
-Fire hazard
-Hazardous to animals
-Hazardous for humans, smoke can be a negative impact on health
-Soil left bare for a long time will create erosion

3) With 66% of the laboring population making its living solely from the soil, farming is the mainstay of the Haitian economy. Only about one-third of the country's land is considered suitable for cultivation because of the rugged and mountainous terrain. Some of Haitis important staple crops are beans, maize and rice however it's most important staple item is coffee beans which in 1999 produced a record amount of 28,000 tonnes. Sugar cane is the second major cash crop but production has been declining yet in 1976, Haiti became a net importer of sugar. Haiti employs an unusual form of farming called arboriculture. Combinations of fruit trees and various roots, particularly the manioc plant, the traditional Haitian bread staple, replace the grain culture of the usual subsistence-economy farming. Crops are cultivated with simple hand tools; the plow or animal power is only rarely employed, except on sugarcane plantations. Coffee is grown on humid mountain slopes, cotton on the semiarid plateaus and sea-level plains, and bananas as well as sugar on the irrigated plains, which covered about 17,000 hectares in 1999. Rice has become a basic staple for Haitians, but local production only meets a little more than 20% of demand.

Rice Crops in Haiti