Effects of Irrigation on Smallholder Welfare: Evidence from Haiti

Food insecurity and hunger remain thorny challenges in Haiti, resulting from the combination of political instability, environmental degradation, poverty and natural disasters (Perez-Escamilla et al., 2009; Ivers et al., 2010; Sample, 2016). Crop yields are low even compared to the neighboring Caribbean countries resulting in low food availability. Little food production is compounded by rural poverty to limit food access for roughly 50% of Haiti’s population (USAID, 2017). Declining yields in the major staple crops, maize and rice (Ray et al., 2013) do not bode well for future food security. Read More...