Is the third time the charm? Prime Ministerial Candidate number three Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis was approved in a 61-1 vote in Haiti’s lower legislative chamber.  Sexism, homophobia, and power politics could yet derail this nomination. Haiti needs a Prime Minister in order to have a functional government that can tackle developmental challenges, chief among them food insecurity. Read more »

Maybe I should call this blog the Fuel Security update instead.  The big news this past week was the elimination of the government gasoline subsidy which drove fuel prices up to over six dollars a gallon.  With limited funds and infinite needs, the government decided to focus its attention on agriculture and other programs to fight poverty.  However, transporting food and other commodities (or oneself if seeking health care) is less affordable now and out of reach for many. The tap-taps are all charging more. Also, the price hike is eating into the budgets of the international and non-governmental organizations which are active throughout the country.  More money on fuel means less for programs. Read more »

I am neither an agronomist or an energy specialist.  But I always have my eyes open for new innovations which could help Haiti achieve either food security or energy independence.  Recently, I received an email from The National Algae Association (NAA) annoucing that it would be bringing together Algae oil production companies, algae researchers and "algaeprenuers" together for a conference on June 17th in Woodlands, Texas.  The private sector seems to think algae has potential as a biofuel - Chevron, Honeywell, and Boeing all have some involvement in algae businesses.   But is it feasible in Haiti?  Read more »

With the Prime Minister of Haiti having been voted out as a result of the recent food riots, expect biofuels to get put on the backburner for a while – at least as far as the government is concerned.   The new Prime Minister will need to assemble a new Cabinet and we hope that the Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, and Energy will all take a close look at the potential of biofuels.  In the meantime, the non-governmental organizations keep working away.  A successful war on poverty in Haiti must be fought on different fronts at the same time, chief of which are food security and energy independence. Read more »

Josette Sheeran, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), spoke this week at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on “The Silent Tsunami" of hunger that threatens to push 100,000,000 more individuals into extreme poverty.  You can imagine that Haiti came up several times during her presentation.  Haitians are resilient people but soaring costs of food prices (and the subsequent increase in percentage of household income spent on food) is pushing people to their limits.  As Ms. Sheeran noted, “The difference between civilization and anarchy is seven meals.”   Hunger is a global problem and we do not have the option of not responding.

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