Farmers in Haiti have had their livelihood destroyed by competition from subsidised American rice

By Charlotte Denny, The Guardian Thursday 11 April 2002

Under the dictates of the World Bank and IMF, Haiti began a programme of rapid trade liberalisation in the 1980s. The import tariff on rice, the staple crop of Haiti’s largely rural population, was cut from 50% to 3%, opening the country to a flood of cheap US imports.

At the beginning of 1990, the country was nearly self-sufficient in rice. By the end of the decade, production had halved and subsidised imports from the US accounted for more than half the local rice sales.

Oxfam says that while the urban population has benefited from cheaper food, the results have been devastating for the farmers. More than half the Haitian children are malnourished and 80% of the rural population lives below the poverty line.

In many ways it is Haiti which stands out as the star pupil of the IMF and World Bank, the report says.

The poorest country on the UN rankings of human development, in 1986 it joined the super league of trade liberalisers.

The transition has had appalling consequences for poor people, but the country is still praised by the World Bank as a strong reformer.