Haiti - Agriculture : The cotton sector could create nearly 17,000 jobs in 5 years
Following a joint feasibility study between Timberland "Impact Farming" and the Haitian cooperative (Gonaïves) "Smallholder Farmers Alliance" (SFA / / Alyans ti Plantè) aiming to reintroduce cotton as an export crop for Haitian small farmers https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16999-haiti-agriculture-study-on-the-reintroduction-of-cotton-as-an-export-crop.html , the SFA after field trials of various varieties of cotton that have been organically grown and harvested successfully, intends to reintroduce the culture of cotton that has disappeared from Haiti since the late 1980s.
Hugh Locke, co-founder of the SFA explains that he already collaborates with "Timberland Company", a company that manufactures and sells its own textile products, specializes in outdoor clothing, including footwear and is ready to perform up to one-third of its annual cotton purchases from SFA farmers once volume and quality are achieved. In addition, "Patagonia", a Californian company in technical clothing for mountain sports and surfing, and "Vans", a Californian brand of sports shoes, including skateboard, BMX and snowboard, a subsidiary of the American group VF Corporation, have also expressed their interest in become potential future buyers of Haitian cotton. Looke sees in particular in its collaboration with Timberland a sustainable opportunity for thousands of small Haitian farmers.
If for the moment in the first phase of the project, the cotton crop has only affected a few farmers Hugh Locke, announces that farmers will start large-scale cultivation as early as next summer. He is convinced that the development of the cotton sector, together with marketing could create in the next 5 years nearly 17,000 jobs.
He believes that in a few years, cotton could become Haiti's white gold and provide millions of pounds of organic cotton for shoes, shirts and other clothing sold in US stores, recalling that before the disappearance of this sector in Haiti, cotton ranked 4th in Haitian agricultural exports.
