INCOME EFFICIENCY OF SOIL CONSERVATION TECHNIQUES IN HAITI

Abstract

Soil erosion and environmental degradation are serious problems facing food security in Haiti. In 1999, the annual soil loss due to erosion was estimated at 36 million m3 tons. The government of Haiti has been aware of these deteriorating conditions and has sought international assistance to reduce these problems. In 1993, the United States Agency for International Development implemented a soil conservation project and millions of dollars were spent on the encouragement of adoption of soil conservation measures; yet the problems of soil degradation is still menacing food security in Haiti. Hence the need to evaluate the impact of soil conservation in Haiti is important. A survey of 951 farmers, who adopted soil conservation techniques in Haiti, was conducted. The survey participants were composed of 83.6% males and 16.2% females. About 53.3% were illiterate and 42.9 and 4.0% received up to eight years schooling and primary education, respectively. The age group range included 8.5% who were less than 30, 30.8% who were between 30 and 45 years old and 32.6% who were between 45 and 60, and 28.1% who were above 60 years old. The results showed that the soil conservation techniques most commonly adopted by farmers were crop bands, alley cropping, rock walls, and gully plugs. Most farmers were satisfied with the soil conservation techniques adopted and they were aware of the benefits of these techniques. There was no significant difference in income per ha for the soil conservation techniques: alley cropping, rock walls and gully plugs. The net income per ha for crop bands was superior to that of alley cropping, rock walls and gully plugs. All models had a good fit as shown by a relatively high adjusted R2 and a low mean square error. The model results showed in general the number of plots, the elevation, the number of trees greater than 10 centimeters in circumference, the evaluation of the soil by farmers as fertile and the number of crops unique to the soil conservation technique positively influence the net revenue per ha. The average age of head of household negatively influenced the net income per hectare.