Can Haiti's Peanut Value Chain Survive US Generosity? Political Economy Analysis
- The United States announced a gift of 500 metric tons of dry-roasted peanuts to Haiti on March 31, 2016, which USDA said equaled 1.4 percent of Haitian peanut production.
- In a 2017 survey of 186 people in the value chain, 97 percent belonged to no association and none had received support from the Haitian government or any organization.
- 1 percent of the 139 respondents who answered said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their role in the chain, and some women reported financial independence.
- Average peanut yield was 0.47 tons per hectare in 2016, 28 percent of the world average of 1.7.
- Potential demand is at least 40,000 tons a year and supply is around 30,000 tons.
- A 2015 workshop heard that peanut butter in Haiti contains aflatoxin well above the 20 parts per billion threshold of the US Food and Drug Administration.
- US peanut exports to Haiti averaged just under 100 metric tons a year before the donation and fell back to trivial levels in 2017 and 2018.
- The report recommends government support for research, credit, cooperatives and aflatoxin detection, and that donors avoid trade policies, dumping in particular, that conflict with their aid.
On March 31, 2016, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a gift of 500 metric tons of dry-roasted peanuts to Haiti. Haitian groups including PAPDA called it surplus dumping that could harm rural livelihoods, while USDA said the gift equaled 1.4 percent of Haitian peanut production. After a meeting with NGOs on June 29, 2016, the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture said it would not accept more donations of this kind. This Oxfam America research backgrounder, by Camille Chalmers, Guelsonne Calixte, François Gérard Junior Denart, Tonny Joseph and Marc J. Cohen, studies the Haitian peanut value chain and the political economy of the donation. A French edition is attached.
The report describes a chain of small farmers, women traders and artisanal processors, with little state support, rainfed production, weak organization and an aflatoxin contamination problem in peanut butter (manba), a breakfast staple. Average yield was 0.47 tons per hectare in 2016, and potential demand of at least 40,000 tons a year exceeds supply of around 30,000 tons. A PAPDA survey in 2017 of 186 people in the Port-au-Prince region, the Central Plateau and the Nord and Nord-Est departments found that peanut earnings did not cover the cost of living, that 97 percent of respondents belonged to no association and that none had received support from the government or any organization. Of the 139 respondents who answered the question, 74.1 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with their role in the chain. The survey did not cover the Artibonite or the southern peninsula.
On the US side, the report describes a subsidized and concentrated peanut sector with surpluses and pressure to move them into food aid. US peanut exports to Haiti averaged just under 100 metric tons a year in the six years before the donation. The report weighs two readings of the 2016 gift, an opening of the Haitian market or a one-time disposal of surplus, and notes that US exports to Haiti fell back to trivial levels in 2017 and 2018. It recommends that the Haitian government support research, training, credit, cooperatives, aflatoxin detection and national food safety standards and protect farmers from subsidized imports, and that donors avoid trade policies that conflict with their aid.
How to cite
Oxfam America, 2020, Can Haiti's Peanut Value Chain Survive US Generosity? Political Economy Analysis, https://webassets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/rr-haitis-peanut-value-chain-280420-en_1.pdf
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- Oxfam America