Permaculture Around Latin America – Urban Agriculture in Haiti

With the fourth installment of ‘Permaculture in Latin America’, I invite you to take a look at a video on urban gardening in Haiti, and consider such initiatives in the context of the natural disasters that have besieged it constantly since 2010.

One of the first things I asked my PDC teacher about was if there was some sort of permaculture disaster relief program or group, since it seemed to make perfect sense with the ideals and theory I was learning. He told me that, at that moment in time, there wasn’t exactly an organized, international permanent effort, but that a lot of disaster relief work had been done in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

There’s Grow Permaculture’s disaster relief work which included composting, recycling, and compost toilets. But, their website doesn’t seem to be updated.

Then I found the excitingly named PermaCorps International, but their website hasn’t been updated since mid 2010.

My teacher said that there are many problems, mainly lack of funding, and that it was an issue that would be discussed in the International Permaculture Convergence that took place in Cuba last year. It makes sense that organizations such as the United Nations, which have more funding and are more internationally trusted (in the sense that they don’t have to make a mainstream name for themselves like permaculture does), are able to fund green initiatives like what we see in the video.

One of the things I like most, and which ties in really well with last month being Women’s History Month is that the video showcases so many farming and gardening women.

Considering these statistics by the FAO, reminds me just how much food is produced, worldwide, by women in a deeply discriminative and sexist system.

On average, women comprise 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries; this figure ranges from around 20 percent in Latin America to 50 percent in parts of Africa and Asia, and exceeds 60 percent in a few countries.(1) In most developing country regions, women who are employed are just as likely, or even more likely, than men to be in agriculture. Almost 70 percent of employed women in Southern Asia and more than 60 percent of employed women in sub-Saharan Africa work in agriculture.

Further Reading/Watching:

• Compost Toilets in Haiti
• SOIL Wins Land for Life Award for Composting Toilet Aid Work in Haiti
• SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) Turns Problem into Solution With Composting Toilets (Haiti)
• Orchestrating Famine – a Must-Read Backgrounder on the Food Crisis