My Favorite Time of Year

We’ve been gearing up all week for the celebration of Haiti’s Labor and Agriculture Day, which falls every year on the first of May. As two-thirds of Haitians farm, this holiday highlights the significance of agriculture to the structure of life here.

It is one of my favorite times of the year here in Haiti, as across the country people celebrate the bounty of the land and the rich diversity of crops grown here. The street markets in Haiti teem with a range of delicacies: some unique to Haiti, such as the small black mushroom known as “Djon Djon,” some that are regional specialties, such as cashew nuts grown in the north, and some of which show strong potential to be valuable export crops, such as coffee and mangoes.

Unfortunately, Haitian agriculture is threatened by serious ecological challenges. Extreme deforestation, soil erosion, droughts, flooding, and the ravages of other natural disasters pose significant obstacles to farming here. In response to these ecological challenges, SOIL transforms thousands of gallons of human waste each week into an endless supply of low-cost organic compost used to rebuild the productive capacity of the soil, increase agricultural yields, and improve the success rate of reforestation efforts.

We’re therefore thrilled to demonstrate the benefits of SOIL’s EcoSan compost at Labor and Agriculture Day events in both Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien today. In Port-au-Prince, SOIL will be joining the exposition at the Ministry of Agriculture, while in Cap-Haitien, we are proud to be participating in the celebration at the Universite of Lenbe. In both of these events, communities are coming together to share ideas, produce, and resources, and we’re proud to be a part of the action.

SOIL wishes everyone a “Bon Fet Premye Me!” (Happy May Day!”) and we appreciate your support in our efforts to plant the seeds of change in Haiti!