Giving farmers a second chance It used to be taboo to cut down a cottonwood tree in Haiti. That's where the father would bury the umbilical cord of a new family member, believing it held the baby's soul. Now, it isn't only cottonwoods that fall. We want to stop the deforestation process and give farmers alternatives to sell other products like cabbage instead of charcoal, which is made from tree roots. Also, when a farmer grafts a tree, they don't cut it because it holds value.
CARE helps farmers to increase crop production and plant trees.
Walking around St. Louis du Nord, Pierre provided insight on agriculture programs in 11 local villages. Deforestation, erosion, poor soil and lack of water are serious problems. We offer farmers training and suggest different soil conservation, soil improvement and tree grafting techniques for them to experiment with. If farmers have good results, we've found that they will adopt the techniques and transfer their learning to others. The farmers become the teachers.