TRICON, HAITI – Pierre Sonore earns an income toiling in the rolling grass fields of rural Tricon.
For decades, small-scale farmers in this area of Les Cayes, a borough in southern Haiti, have been growing vetiver, the country’s most valuable agricultural export. Sonore started when he was just 17 but quickly found that farming the perennial plant known for its fragrant, high-quality oil was a high-stakes activity.
Vetiver is harvested by digging the whole plant out of the ground, he says, a practice that has led over time to soil degradation and erosion. Continue reading