“Stevia,” by Helena Zelic
- Capire
- 18 August 2021
“Stevia” is a poem written as a tribute to the resistance of the Haitian Women’s Solidarity network against the expropriation of their lands to make sweeteners for Coca-Cola.
“Stevia” is a poem written as a tribute to the resistance of the Haitian Women’s Solidarity network against the expropriation of their lands to make sweeteners for Coca-Cola.
In a country where nearly 40% of the population suffers from food shortages, some 8,600 hectares of fertile land is now to be used to produce stevia as a sweetener for the multinational Coca-Cola.
A collective representing hundreds of Haitian farmers, filed a complaint to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) about its role in a case of land grabbing.
In Haiti, majority of the people working the land are women. When a family is dispossessed of its land, rural women are the first to feel the pain. Ways that land theft and expulsions are affecting them need to be put on the table so the impacted women can be made a priority.
Farmers remain homeless and out of work while the land grabbed by the company Jovenel Moïse founded, Agritrans, now hosts a private banana plantation.
Haiti's agriculture ministry has signed an agreement with a consortium of Haitian and Colombian investors to establish a major oil palm project on 4,000 ha over the next 5 years.