Part 1 of 2 about konbit in our ongoing State of Haiti series
PIGNON, Haiti—Massène Accilien, a veteran farmer in the Nan Charles village in northern Haiti commune, gets up at 5 a.m. to tend to his sugarcane crop. This past May, when the crop was ready, he spent weeks looking for a day laborer to help him harvest the sugarcane, but no workers were available.
Overview:
Konbit, the Haitian farming custom deeply rooted in collective effort for food production and other socio-economic systems, is disappearing in many provinces, including Pignon. The shortage of people available or interested in farmwork is impacting output in entire towns, and perhaps the very idea of “carrying the load together” that had permeated the Haitian mindset, ways and culture beyond the fields.
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