Our experiences in development
Our experiences in development projects are numerous and have come in addition to Education, Training and Health programs to open up avenues for development and change in the living conditions of the population.
Unfortunately the socio-political conditions of the country, the multiple constraints encountered and the lack of funding or their continuity did not allow the sustainability of these actions.
Chicken breeding
Our first experience was the operation of a henhouse located in Lilavois, Croix des Bouquets, intended to improve the school canteen. Three henhouses, covering approximately 600 m², depots and a caretaker's room have been built. Two henhouses were intended for broilers, the other for laying hens.
Broilers are purchased, day old chicks, and ready to sell in 6-7 weeks. With a cleaning and disinfection time, the cycle of these broilers is 2 months. The cycle of each of the two henhouses of about 1500 chickens each, were shifted by one month in order to have chickens ready to sell each month with a loss of about 6 to 8%.
The third henhouse housed 1000 laying hens. Pullets are purchased ready to lay (about 17 weeks) and produce an average of 380 eggs over a period of about 16 months.
The ready-made food is different depending on the fattening age of the chicks and chickens as well as for the laying hens. The chickens are generally delivered to traders while the eggs collected for the day are sold to supermarkets, organizations or even traders.
The production is quite easy although it requires careful care and regular checks. The production costs are quite high including food (the biggest item), the purchase of chicks or pullets, drugs, materials and the management of the center. But a well-run chicken coop is relatively profitable.
This henhouse operated from 1996 to 1999, with the support of an expatriate.
Jacmel fishing project
From 2000, when a large part of the activities of Port-au-Prince were closed or reduced, we set up income-generating projects including this fishing project in Jacmel where Denis spent a good part of his time at the time. . This project started in 2001, with the French Cooperation and fishing equipment sent by the French Association "Le sillage", and the collaboration of a fisherman from Cyvadier, Sonson.
Its objective is the development of fishing and secondarily to generate income for the operation of the school. The secondary objectives were to create jobs, the grouping of fishermen in a cooperative, training, safety at sea, respect for maritime flora and fauna, the environment, technological development of fishing techniques, infrastructure and conservation of seafood.
A team of seven people was attached to the project. Fishing in Haiti remains very traditional: canoe or coral, motor, fishing nets, trammel or simple net, pots, plover, sardine seine, tackles, fishing with shoal lines, trolling. With a freezer, we supplied a reserve of seafood which is then resold either to local merchants, restaurants or transported to Port-au-Prince in coolers.
The days of bad weather at sea are numerous, a country of regular tropical storms, allowing the many repairs to the nets, often damaged by the corals and the preparation of new nets. Fishing remains difficult because of the uncertain weather, few continental shelves, numerous corals tearing the nets, coastal waters suffering from severe degradation due to erosion caused by torrential rains, absence of specialized shops, individualism of fishermen attached to traditions, difficulties of communications and socioeconomic and political degradation of the country.
The main seafood products of the Southeast region are carengues, tuna, bonito, king mackerel, sharks, rays, sole, sardines, conger, white and pink fish, lobsters, shrimps, crabs and queen conch, the prices of which are very high. varied. Fishing is practiced on the entire South-East coast, from Bainet to Anse à Pitre and requires sustainable trips from base to base, stopovers in ports such as Marigot and Belle-Anse.
The socio-political degradation of the country from 2004, aggravated by an intense hurricane season in 2004-2008, prevented the project from unfolding properly. This experience was also very intense leading a simple and rough life.
However, in order to improve these conditions, it would be necessary to consider other structures for a real and lasting development of fishing, such as:
-
A fleet of midshore fishing boats or small trawlers,
-
-
Creation of deep sea fishing bases,
-
-
Creation of fish markets for the conservation and sale of products
-
Stores specializing in fishing equipment,
-
-
Organization of Fishermen's Cooperatives.
At this same time, at the end of 2000, we launched with Haitian friends, the Terra Viva Foundation , in Jacmel, with the objectives of contributing to the improvement of the economic and health life of the population in a development perspective. sustainable.
The areas of intervention are education, training, health, fishing, culture and alternative tourism. The fishing project was the main project, providing for the establishment of a cooperative for the conservation and sale of seafood.
Fishing boat experience and transport
A fishing experience first took place, at the Center de La Plaine, with two former French fishermen volunteers from the association "Le sillage" took place for a few months with some young people from the Saint-Alphonse school. A small fishing boat was based a few kilometers on the coast to the north.
Then, in 2008/09, we set up a seafood production project with a Haitian captain trained in Cuba, Nazer Beaubrun.
A boat named “Marie Aimée”, rented to a Canadian, was fitted out to collect seafood in the hold. This boat then provided passenger transport from Port-au-Prince to Anse d'Hainaut (Grande Anse). On the return journey, seafood is caught or bought from fishermen or cooperatives in ports, particularly in Dame-Marie, to be resold in Port-au-Prince in markets, supermarkets, restaurants, individuals or cooperatives.
This experience, which lasted about a year, made it possible to get to know the entire south coast, from Port-au-Prince to Tiburon and to rub shoulders with the world of fishermen and businesses.
Thomazeau fish farm
This tilapia breeding project was close to our hearts at SOS Children and Denis.
In 2007, we started this project, called "Tilapia to overcome malnutrition in Haiti", in Thomazeau, 20 km from Port-au-Prince, on the banks of the brackish pond or Lake Azuei, with initial funding from the French association Enfants Soleil.
The objective of this project, led by Aproped, a Haitian association of which Denis is the Administrator, is to fight malnutrition with the production of animal proteins, partly intended for the canteens of ESA, to disseminate viable fish farming techniques and profitable, to participate in the revival of national fish production and to create jobs.
The first phase began in July 2009, with the development of the site and the excavation of the first basins. The farm included in 2009, twelve ponds of 300 and 400 m² and four smaller ones, a concrete basin on the bank for the production of fry, a house equipped for housing and storage, market gardening and breeding activities for the production. food and manure for pond fertilization.
The rearing of fish, simple in principle, becomes more complicated for a profitable, regular and sustainable exploitation. Fish farming is a basic source of protein at reasonable costs. The rearing must include several tanks of different sizes for the different phases of production and grow-out. Concrete tanks of small dimensions act as a hatchery for the production of fry. To this end, breeding fish (3 females for 1 male) are placed in a breeding tank at the rate of one per m². The larvae are collected using landing nets and placed in a shallow nursery basin for a period of 1 month, up to a weight of 5g. These fry, which have become fingerlings, are placed in another shallow concrete basin for two months, to a weight of 30 g, at a rate of 30 per m².
The 300 or 400 m² grow-out ponds receive these 30 g fingerlings for maximum magnification with a density of 4 / m² over a period of 5 months. For quality, sustainable and high-quality breeding, this presupposes a certain number of nursery basins and then fattening to stagger regular and monthly production. The grow-out tanks have 2 loadings per year with a cleaning period in between.
Female tilapia, mature at 3 to 4 months, are very prolific and can lay up to 2000 eggs every five weeks. This fish is very resistant, feeds on all organic waste, has a high protein value. Females cannot, however, gain weight during the oral incubation period. It is therefore recommended to operate a sorting of the fingerlings to keep only the males for magnification.
The ponds must be fertilized with compost, to feed the fish. A control of the quality of the water which must be regularly renewed, is very important. Harvests are done using nets while reducing the water level.
A combination of fish farming, food crops and animal husbandry boosts production and creates many jobs as well as marketing. These activities involve many works and therefore jobs: excavation of basins, development of banks, market gardening, constructions, construction of a dam for water regulation, supply and drainage channels. and irrigation, breeding, management and regular control, fisheries, ...
The proximity of the brackish pond gave us the surprise on three occasions of the presence of caimans in the grow-out ponds. After having recovered them using the nets, they were transported to MARNDR, Ministry of Agriculture which had requested it.
The repetitive cyclones of 2008 favored a steady rise in the water in the pond, worsened by the earthquake of January 2010. They resulted in salinization of the land preventing market gardening and a gradual rise in the waters of the basins. We tried in vain for months to struggle with the formation of dikes with bags of earth.
As the waters continued to rise inexorably, it was unfortunately impossible to continue this fish farming project.
Tenta project editing
During this 2010 earthquake, which left nearly 300,000 dead and missing, more than 300,000 injured and more than a million homeless, temporary tent camps have multiplied in all neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. .
We reflected with a Canadian company, Tenta, with a small group of agronomists and engineers and worked on an integrated village project for the reception of several thousand homeless families.
For several months, we worked on plans for an integrated village including schools, shops, markets, sports facilities with an agro-industrial part to create many jobs and community dynamics. Active research has been done to find available and suitable land for the village.
In particular, we have worked with agronomists on the agro-industry part comprising hectares of land for food crops, fodder meadows for cattle and goat breeding, wood and plant production, fish farming, henhouses and pigsties. The same goes for a slaughterhouse section, production of cassava, mambas, jams, crafts, to boost trade and jobs.
But, once again, the funding was not there and this major project remained in draft form.
Mirebalais Fish Center
Following the abandonment of the Thomazeau site, we restarted fish farming activities in Mirebalais with the help of SOS Enfants.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
The new site is located 50 km north of Port-au-Prince, in the lower Central Plateau. The clayey terrain, slightly sloping, with water access from irrigation canals, is suitable for the construction of basins.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Two ponds of 300 m² were first built and then three concrete ponds for the production of fry. Market gardening began with tree planting, but the land turned out to be poor and yields remained low. A banana plantation on one hectare has been set up. As the banana harvest began, a violent cyclone tore up almost all of the plants.
The funding was interrupted due to the not very encouraging results of the crops intended for a gradual autonomy of the project.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
Several projects to revive aquaculture and the fish farming center in the Central Plateau have been designed and presented by GRHADD, Haitian Authentic Group for Sustainable Development, of which Denis is the Coordinator. These projects have received the full support of MARNDR, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, including its fisheries and aquaculture department, with a view to the significant stocking of water bodies in the Central Plateau. , in particular.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
These projects, despite the approval and the will of the Ministry, did not receive the attention of government authorities and without this funding, the Mirebalais project could not continue.
Sonaprai Company
After the earthquake of January 2010, the Haitian population lives in a situation of misery. All economic codes are red. Investments are scarce, exports are at an all-time low, imports are climbing, currencies are in flight, GDP is declining, the trade balance is in deficit, inflation is soaring, unemployment is on the rise, food insecurity and environmental degradation haunt people's minds.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
It is in this context, touching the doldrums, that SONAPRAI, the National Society of Agricultural and Industrial Productions, will intervene, which was created in August 2010 in a small town in the Lower Central Plateau.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
The company has its head office in Mirebalais and its annex head office in Les Cayes, inaugurated in 2011, the far North and the great South constituting the two main areas of intervention of SONAPRAI.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
The objective of this is to participate in the food self-sufficiency of the country by focusing on the production and industrialization of agricultural products and the creation of many jobs in the agro-industry sector and its marketing.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
The company is made up of around ten entrepreneurs and agronomist engineers, of which Denis Puthiot is the Vice-President of Business Development. Several renowned personalities are part of it. Quantities of land are available to SONAPRAI, for purchase, donation or rental. Numerous trips to the Central Plateau and to the South made it possible to locate the land, meetings with local organizations and planters, and visits to small agro-industrial companies. Thus, many collaborations have started.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
SONAPRAI is preparing many projects concerning:
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
1- Training and communication, provision of services
2- Farms: banana and sugar cane plantations, food and vegetable crops, forestry, floriculture
3- Animal production: fish farming, fishing, beekeeping, livestock
4- Industrial exploitation, processing and conservation of agricultural products, production of animal feed, crafts
5- Local and international marketing, agricultural fairs
6- The environment, training, awareness, sanitation, reforestation, soil conservation, agro and ecotourism
7- Rural engineering: hydrology, agricultural roads, hill lakes, construction of buildings and glacis
8- Agricultural mechanization: technical improvements, import and rental of agricultural tools, local manufacture of agricultural and industrial tools.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
A Business Plan has been drawn up for a 2011-2016 fiscal year, taking into account the objectives, financial, material and real estate assets, human resources, lines of intervention, current, medium and long-term objectives, the provisional budgets of expenses and receipts with a chronogram of activities, the organization chart of the Company.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
This very ambitious business plan was phased in and required large investments. He met the needs of the country.
During this post-earthquake period, numerous donations and financial contributions made it possible to make significant investments in this priority sector of development and food self-sufficiency. Several institutional start-up projects and agricultural production have been set up and presented to the government for the necessary follow-up. Local and foreign investors were interested in this ambitious vision of SONAPRAI, enabled the organization of numerous meetings, trips, contacts with people or resource organizations, the inaugurations of the headquarters of Mirebalais and Les Cayes. But the first funds did not make it possible to actively start agricultural production.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
The projects unfortunately remained unanswered, the governments in place more interested in projects of relatives, easier to control. The abandonment of several members, the lack of funding discouraged the members and the project was abandoned with the departure abroad of its President and Initiator.
Many attempts at development projects have been undertaken. Some have not seen the light of day, others have been able to develop for a few years but none have been able to be sustainable. This is largely due to the country's difficulties, difficulties of all kinds, inherent in the country's climatic, socio-economic and political conditions, in particular political and security instabilities.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
But the major difficulty remains the sources of funding, local authorities are not interested in real development and very rarely grant funding to projects that do not come from close people.
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.
International funding is difficult to renew which leads to their abandonment after a certain time. It was not for lack of perseverance.
With the help of FODEP and all the participants we can have lasting actions.