TTFF Fake Breadfruit Flour Factories in Haiti

February 1st 2018, I visited a project of TTFF (Trees that Feed Foundation), founded and managed by Mary and Michael McLaughlin who claim to have breadfruit factories in Jeremie, Haiti (check their claims here). I found no evidence of them ever having produced anything. The “factory” –a tin shed valuing less than $1,000, had clearly beenRead More

Belying Basket of Mango: TRAVESTY OF EXPORT VS. LOCAL MANGO PRICES Part II

If we consider the value of a panye (basket) in terms of a poor market woman selling mangoes in the local market, where 95% or more of all Haiti’s mangos get sold, there is clearly a price floor at which point it makes no sense to harvest and sell mangos. There is a point whereRead More

Cheaper by the Dozen Mango Travesty II

Puzzling regarding change in prices, size of dozens and reject rates is that HAP made claims in 2005 almost identical to those of Haiti Hope project claims in 2014 and 2015. Quoting directly from the HAP 2005 evaluation, Field interviews indicated that ten years ago producers were paid four gourdes for a dozen mangos, andRead More

Cheaper by the Dozen Mango Travesty I

It is not at all what NGOs or Haitians mean–any of them—when they say “dozen.” Not those in the mango business anyway. First off, for the poor Haitian producers, they do not measure in weight and they seldom measure in number. They measure in volume. Hence when trading locally in mangos they do not useRead More

Haiti, Not Open for Business: Another Dried Mango Export Travesty

Despite a whole lot promises and some $120 million donor dollars invested in the domestic mango industry over a period of 20 years, as of 2015, Haiti had no new mango processing facilities. A 2012 TNS feasibility study showed that a Coca Cola supported juice and pulp processing factory would be profitable only after 10Read More

Lying Sack of Mango: Travesty of Export Prices

This article summarizes how USG funded aid agencies and contractors have manipulated price data to make it appear that they have improved the export market chain price for mangoes. As seen below, they’ve rather boldly misrepresented their own data to make their case.

USAID Funded Chemonics Mango Travesty: WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

USAID/IDB/Coca Cola funded Haiti Hope project invested in processing enterprises, and failed in every attempt. A good example comes from l’Unité de Séchage de Fruits à Mirebalais–The Fruit Drying Operation in Mirabalais–funded by USAID/WINNER’s $127 million Feed the Future West project and operated by the Mirebalais association ADAIM (Association pour le développement agro-industriel de Mirebalais).Read More

The Travesty of Haiti Hope and Haiti’s ANEM Mango Cartel: Part II

An illustration of how dysfunction ANEM is but how it’s members relish aid and support from international donor community came after the 2010 Haiti earthquake when USAID, Coca Cola, and IDB funded the Haiti Hope project, investing $10 million in the mango sector for the period 2010 to 2015. The donors and ANEM claimed theRead More

The Travesty of Haiti Hope and Haiti’s ANEM Mango Cartel: Part I

Ninety-five percent of all Haitian mango exports go to the US and they all must go through a cartel composed of eight export packing houses, ANEM (Association Nationale des Exportateurs de Mangues). A cartel is a group of sellers or buyers that have been granted government sanctioned authority to organize themselves to behave like aRead More

Coca Cola Mango Travesty

In 2010, the Coca Cola company helped initiate a project called Haiti Hope: a USAID, IDB, and Coca Cola joint venture that aimed to increase mango production and export. It was different than all preceding Haiti mango projects in that it was founded on the “Hope” that there would be an immediate and dramatic increaseRead More

Travesty