Rice

Some people were relatively shocked when they heard that Haitians had to eat "mud-cakes" (what a euphamism!) but nobody bothered asking why. Its very simple and unsurprising: debts and dependency.

Al Jazeera's Inside USA: Twenty years ago, Haiti produced enough rice to feed its population. Importing rice from other countries like the US was unheard of. Today, the country of less than 10 million people is the third largest importer of US rice in the world – 75 per cent of the rice eaten in Haiti is shipped in from the US.

Great for farmers in places like Arkansas and Missouri but devastating for farmers in the Artibonite valley, which used to be Haiti's rice bowl.

And now that Haiti is utterly dependent on imported food, the entire country is vulnerable to the mood swings of the global market. (often speculation see post below)

So when the price of rice doubled in the last year, the majority of Haitians, who live in bitter poverty, got slammed.



See also:
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/223.html