The Role of Charcoal in Hurricane Matthew Relief and Recovery
- The brief argues that making and selling charcoal is a primary part of rural Haitians' response to disasters and other financial shocks.
- It says converting downed trees into charcoal after Hurricane Matthew can both produce quick cash and clear gardens for replanting.
- The charcoal industry is described as Haiti's largest agricultural industry and as a value chain linking Haitians across socio-economic levels.
- The author argues that charcoal saves foreign exchange that would otherwise be spent on non-renewable fuels based mostly on petroleum or natural gas.
- The brief frames charcoal support as efficient because the inputs are already available and Haitians already know traditional production and marketing systems.
- It recommends assisting production and marketing of charcoal and mentions small charcoal-making retorts to improve conversion efficiency.
This three-page brief by agricultural economist J.D. 'Zach' Lea, dated October 2016 in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, argues that making and selling charcoal is a primary component of rural Haitians' response to disaster and other financial shocks - after selling livestock, the next recourse is cutting trees. It frames the point in evaluation language, against the relevance criterion of consistency with beneficiaries' requirements and country needs. The argument matters because charcoal is usually treated in the corpus as an environmental problem to be suppressed; this reads it as a coping mechanism that disaster response will intensify unless alternatives exist. It complements the charcoal assessments the corpus already holds.
How to cite
J.D. Lea, 2016, The Role of Charcoal in Hurricane Matthew Relief and Recovery, https://agripubhaiti.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Role-of-Charcoal-in-Hurricane-Relief-Recovery.pdf