Growing for the future
Food security
We started an agricultural program on Île à Vache in 2015 with the aim of providing nutritious lunches for the students at our La Hatte school. Food security is a critical issue for children throughout Haiti, but Île à Vache, eight miles off the Haitian mainland, must bring much of its food in small wooden boats. This process can be unreliable and expensive in the best of times, but the crisis in Haiti over the past several years, from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 through the ongoing political violence, showed us the value of committing to local food production for our Île à Vache community. Under the direction of our head agronomist, Anousse Paul, and with technical support from the University of the Virgin Islands, the program has grown to about 20 acres across several fields and now produces around half of the food we serve our students every day. The stated objective of our agriculture program is to achieve 0% malnutrition in our students, a goal we achieved in 2018 and continue to strive for every year. The farming methods we choose follow agroecological principles such as soil conservation and low-input cropping systems where local farmers can see such methods in action. Farmers on the island also come to us for free advice, improved seeds and seedlings, and veterinary care for their animals. "Thanks to the support of GSF, our agriculture program feeds 350 children regular, nutritious meals."
Livestock and veterinary care
Since 2023, goats and sheet are the core of our animal agriculture. We have found them (and goats especially) to be well suited to the island since they are able to feed on various crop residues and wild grasses available locally. Our herd has grown well beyond the animals we started with, and we exceeded our original target, which allowed us to begin selling young animals. We also keep chickens for meat and eggs for the school feeding program. Our corn mill, which we have operated since 2024, is able to grind feed for these animals, and provides grain for the school. Other local groups are also able to use our mill for a small contribution which offsets fuel and maintenance costs, bringing a benefit to the whole community. Another major benefit we bring to Île à Vache is our veterinary clinic, since veterinary services are so scarce on the island. We even provide training for young people in veterinary care to help increase local capacity on the island.
Cassava
An important staple crop in our program, and across Haiti, is cassava, which is a drought-tolerant root crop that provides an important reliable source of carbohydrates. In our fields, we extensively cultivate cassava to supply the "casaverie" we constructed. At the casaverie, we process our cassava into "kasav," or traditional Haitian cassava bread, as well as other cassava products. Crucially, this not only benefits food security on the island, but provides paid work, all while making the community less reliant on food importation. The casaverie covers all its own running costs from sales, including maintenance, fuel, and wages. You can read more about the establishment of our casaverie on our blog.
Beekeeping
Continuing to diversify our operations, we have also expanded into beekeeping. Members of our agriculture team use modern hives (much easier to manage, and more productive, than traditional log hives) to produce honey, which we sell to fund the growth of the program. We are also able to produce candles and soap using the beeswax. There are agroecological benefits as well, though, since bees improve pollination and therefore crop yields in the whole area. We have seen a strong interest in this project from other farmers on the island, so we have helped other farmers start their own hives with small start-up loans, and we make the protective beekeeper clothing in our own sewing workshop.
