Faces of Recovery: A step forward with cacao

Despite the loss of part of her smallholding as a result of the earthquake in the Grand'Anse region of Haiti, Nelie Louis Charles, a member of the Platform of Agricultural Cooperatives of Anse d'Hainault (PLACAHA), says she is not discouraged and hopes to rebuild her life with the help of cacao.

“In the locality of Gabrielle where I live, the earthquake caused a lot of damage. Personally, I lost some livestock and part of my garden. The walls of my house were also cracked. I was able to survive on my meagre reserves. 

Four months after the earthquake, we can say that our lives have improved, as we are able to sell our cocoa easily to Kaleos, a Haitian company. However, more training would allow us to improve our production and to add value to the product.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has supported us through a project called PROFIT which stands for ‘Project for Strengthening Agricultural Opportunities through Training and Technological Investment.’ The project is also focused on developing a market for breadfruit or ‘lam veritab’ as we say in Creole. This will bring more jobs and additional income for all small producers in the area.”