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This has been a considerable problem in Haiti in the recent times. More than half of the public services in Haiti are fully dependent on Non Governmental Organizations. This may not appear like much of a problem in the current day and time, but it may become a serious problem in the near future.
With time, NGOs could have more economic power over the country as compared to the government. If this is to be the case, it will be impossible to control most of the public procurement activities. Moreover, the government will lose a lot of money from evaded taxes. This NGO’s are likely to discover loopholes in the taxation structure; it will not be long before they start evading the taxes.
Moreover, they will have to offer goods and services at exceedingly high prices. If the government will have an extremely difficult time trying to restrain the prices of indispensable commodities and facilities such as medical and sanitation amenities. This means that the citizens will be venerable to over-exploitation by the NGOs. With the government less powerful, there will be no one to look out for the prerequisites of the common people.
Taking into consideration that about 80% of Haiti’s food supply has to be imported, corruption is inevitable. The supply chain of the food commodities is likely to be interrupted by cartels since the government has extremely little power on the supply chain. In the long run, the cartels could create artificial shortages of the food commodities with the aim of hiking up prices for a better profit. With the population and economy (J. F. 8) recovering from the 2010 earthquake, Haiti’s population is likely to grow tremendously in the next one decade.
This means that the need for such basic commodities such as food and sanitation is also likely to rise significantly. Currently, only about 40% of Haiti’s population has access to basic health (Sontag, ” In Haiti, Global Failures on a Cholera Epidemic”). These numbers are likely to increase significantly with the current population growth rate. Problems of artificial shortage of such commodities will become inevitable in the long run.
Additionally, the NGOs may be unable to satisfy the needs of the population due to certain government policies. Without government intervention, employment could also be a serious problem more so because NGOs are twice as much likely to be biased as compared to the government.
People consider Port au prince, Haiti’s capital to be the busiest economic city in Haiti. In the recent past, many prominent companies have relocated to port au prince. This may be a significant delinquent in the long run especially due to centralization. With time, the need for decentralization may arise, and it will be difficult since the people lack the power and voices to power decentralization (Sontag, “In Haiti, the Displaced Are Left Clinging to the Edge”).
Concurrently, problems like overpopulation and slums are likely to increase significantly (Hornbeck 31). NGOs and private investors care little about the welfare of the people and could do anything to maximize their profits. Problems of insecurity are also likely to be experienced as a result of overpopulation. It may be rather difficult for the same NGOs to handle such sensitive matters with perfection.
Foreign Investment
In as much as foreign investment is paramount to any nation, it needs to be controlled for sustainable development (Bell and Field 5). After the 2010 floods, many foreign investment groups came up with the aim of developing Haiti and rescuing the economy of the nation.
This involvement affected both the GDP and GNP of Haiti considerably. During the 2010 earthquake, many foreign investors left the country in fear of economic losses while other potential investors cancelled their investment plans. On the other hand, there are those who shifted into the country after they saw the opportunity with the aim of rescuing the economic situation. With time, such investors have been able to form a strong base in Haiti thereby hindering the entrance of new investors.
Additionally, many foreign investment groups have often come to the rescue of collapsing companies in Haiti and also in other countries. Economically, this is a brilliant move but this might adversely affect the future of investment in Haiti. New investors may find it hard and otherwise impossible to bring developments to Haiti due to the existing competition. Moreover, the government’s failure to encourage such investment activities might negatively affect the entry of such investors.
These investors use up the country’s natural resources and labor and carry all the profits to their mother countries. The local community only involves itself in minor activities that are dependent of the investors’ activities (Sontag, “Earthquake Relief”).
In the event of deprivation of the natural resources, the investors will return to their mother country and leave nothing for the locals. This would mean that no development will take place in the long run despite the consumption of resources. The local community will forever dwell in a vicious cycle of poverty depending on the international community for aid.
Since the 2010 earthquake, the country has relied heavily on foreign investors for the development of their private sector. With the country importing up to about 80% of the basic commodities, the foreign investors play a rather crucial role in the country. With time, they have become an essential part of Haiti’s supply and production chains.
In other words, Haiti relies heavily on the foreign funds. Currently, this is not much of a problem, but with time, the level of reliance could be too much such that the economic development and GDP of the country becomes affected (Kolbe, Puccio and Muggah 10). Like mentioned earlier, deprivation of natural resource might cause an unexpected turn of events where the local community has nothing on which to depend.
Worse still, foreign investors could flee back to their mother country in the event of a tragedy like an earthquake leaving unexploited resources (Sontag, “Earthquake Relief”). Because of the government’s overdependence on the international community to develop such resources, it becomes impossible for the local community to develop the resources by their own.
Future problems of public procurement and foreign investment could be solved through the government’s involvement with its welfare, with the aim of safeguarding the citizens’ interests. The government should be able to understand that, in as much as these policies and projects favor the development in the short run, they may not be the preeminent for the long run.
These projects fail to support sustainable development in that the government fails to put in place policies to govern these activities (Magiure and Copeland). It should also develop projects and investment opportunities for the local community.
Agriculture problem
Most people consider agriculture to be the background of any economy. A statistical estimate predicts that more than 50% of Haiti citizens are working directly in the agricultural sector. About 6% of all exports comprise of agricultural products. Most of the virgin forests have now been cleared to pave the way for agricultural activities. Currently, natural forest vegetation covers only about 4% of Haiti’s total land mass (Magiure 21).
This is worrying especially if sustainable development has to be achieved. There are also some estimates that Haiti loses its forest cover by about 3% annually. For this reason, most of the agricultural land becomes susceptible to soil erosion thereby reducing the total yield. Moreover, most of the agricultural land is highly venerable to floods due to erosion of slopes in Haiti’s agricultural zones.
The UN’s efforts towards sustainable development face a roadblock brought about by the fact that, for allocation of forest land, the current agricultural activities would have to be reduced significantly thereby affecting the already low production (Magiure, “Transcending the Past to Build Haiti’s Future” 10).
In 2012, a super-storm hit Haiti destroying a significant part of the agricultural work. Going by a report by the UNs report, some of the most affected areas included Haiti’s crops, livestock, land, rural infrastructures and fisheries. The United Nations (UN) reckons that it requires about $74 million to help Haiti recover from the sand-storm.
About 600,000 people who relied directly on agriculture became adversely affected with at least 60 people losing their lives. Earlier on, Haiti was battling against a severe drought that left the local community depending on international Aid (A Voice for the Voiceless, 2010). NGOs like Oxfam have been on the forefront supporting the local community by not only buying some of their produce but also providing employment opportunities (Hartberg, Proust, and Bailey 3).
With all said and done, it is only reforestation that will get Haiti out of the current agricultural problem that it is experiencing. The forest cover should be raised up to about 10% by encouraging activities like agro forestry. Moreover, farmers ought to be educated on the importance of planting and maintaining the forest cover. In a nutshell, sustainable development can only be achieved by learning to plant as a minimum two trees in the place of every one cut.
Works Cited
A Voice for the Voiceless, An initiative to include the Haitian people’s views for the 31 March 2010 Donor’s Conference. 2013. Web.
Bell, Beverly, and Tory Field. Beverly Bell: Poverty-Wage Assembly Plants as Development Strategy in Haiti: An Interview with the Center for the Promotion of Women Workers. Huffington Post Canada – Canadian News Stories, Breaking News, Opinion. 2010. Web.
Hartberg, Martin, Aurelie Proust, and Michael Bailey. From Relief to Recovery: Supporting good governance in post-earthquake Haiti. 2011. Web.
Hornbeck, John F. The Haitian Economy and the HOPE Act. Congressional Research Service. 2010. Web.
Kolbe, Athena, Marie Puccio, and Robert Muggah. After the Storm: Haiti’s Coming Food Crisis. 2012. Web.
Magiure, Robert, and Casei Copeland. The International Donors’ Conference and Support for Haiti’s Future. 2010. Web.
Magiure, Robert. Reconstructing to Rebalance Haiti after the Earthquake. 2010. Web.
Magiure, Robert. Transcending the Past to Build Haiti’s Future. USIP Peace Brief, 2010. Web.
Sontag, Deborah. “Earthquake Relief Where Haiti Wasn’t Broken.” The New York Times. 2013. Web.
Sontag, Deborah. “In Haiti, Global Failures on a Cholera Epidemic.” The New York Times. 2012. Web.
Sontag, Deborah. “In Haiti, the Displaced Are Left Clinging to the Edge.” The New York Times. 2010. Web.
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