Libéralisation économique et marginalisation de la paysannerie en Haïti : le cas de l'arcahaie

The article describes the agrarian changes and developments occurring in the Haitian region of Arcahaie, in relation to trade liberalization. It shows how the small farmers, faced with an increase in food imports, specialized in the only crop that was still profitable, plantain banana, which they sell in order to buy imported rice. They were thus prompted to develop production systems that were both effectively unsustainable from the agronomic point of view and economically vulnerable. This crop is now at the mercy of competition from the Dominican Republic whose agricultural productivity levels are higher. This competition has a heavy impact on prices and poses a threat of serious crisis for the smallholder farmers of Arcahaie, who now have no alternative crop to produce as a back-up.