Let's Build Gonave, Haiti!

One idea to keep continuous supply of cash flowing into the co-op is to have a hotel.  Tourism is returning back to Haiti and most of that is centered in and around Port-au-Prince.  So putting a simple hotel in Port-au-Prince is really a smart choice for the future.  As you know I am a fan of shipping containers, and being the country's major port city, it is easy to get these containers in, and to move them in place.  This hotel would be very simple and only contain at most 12 rooms.  While it wouldn't be a major hotel, it would provide strong revenue into the Co-Op.  This will allow the co-op to employ staff that is needed once the Co-Op is larger.  Transporting, packaging, etc. are all jobs that are with the greater good of the cooperative, but not profit making ventures. To combat the problem of the Co-Op not being able to fun much larger programs, outside revenue sources are needed.  This will prevent the need for investments from ...

I wanted to discuss the agribusiness plan a little bit.  I have gotten many emails asking what does it look like, how will it happen, etc. As I have mentioned in many different blogs, a cooperative will be setup to handle and govern all of the farming programs.  It helps lower cost and give a strong competitive advantage when you have a cooperative.  So that is a brief overview of how it will happen. It will take a few good farmers to make the co-op work and it will take a new way of doing things to make it work.  While I have discussed beekeeping and tilapia farming, there will also be a focus on actual vegetable and fruit crops.  I mentioned things like the Pinto Bean for example, but I haven't discussed how the fields will be prepared. Major issues such as poor soil, lack of water, free roaming animals, and lack of farm equipment make normal open field farming very labor intensive.  The lack of basic controls really hurt and affect the crop produc...

The future goal of the La Gonave Co-op is to have many different farms and homesteads on the island.  All of these farms would be under a self-sustaining cooperative.  The co-op will eventually form a cooperative store.  The store would use the food from the various farms and would provide the food and services the public needs. Imagine a store that is naturally organic due to the cooperative's safety measures and standards of not using harsh chemicals and fertilizers.  Normally these stores in America would have pricy food, however the food on La Gonave would be affordable. While it is some time away, we are working on the plans of creating a Co-Op grocery store.  Obviously the store would be located in Anse-a-Galets.  While we feel that this store will be really needed in the community, we also understand how important it is to have affordable costs. We even have a name and logo already for the store and feel that within the next 2 to 3 years the f...

One question I got was what if there is corruption on the island of La Gonave or within Haiti by politicians.  My response.  "We have a Zero Tolerance Policy when it comes to corruption"!  This not only goes for politicians, but also for civilians. Our Co-op is designed with clawback measures that will punish individuals or cities that participate in corruption.  For example, lets say a farmer claims that he started a program that the Co-op created.  We as a Co-op will decide if that person should be voted out of the Co-op, pay a fine, or be put on probation.  Not being  apart of the Co-op can be devastating to a farmer as it will destroy their selling and marketing power.  The Co-op is working with many large companies to eventually buy our crops and goods.  Being voted out or suspended will make that farmer rely solely on the local market which will impact their way of life.  Also if the farmer was renting out equipment, such as our...

Day three of the Bidens Pilosa.  So when we replanted the seeds of the Bidens Pilosa, we didn't expect them to germinate so quickly.  So I will do more updates on this plant due to how quickly they grow.  As mentioned we added more seeds and slightly covered them on March 16th.  Below is a picture of what those seeds have done. Now keep in mind this is only day 3 as there was no activity before.  The fact that this plant can sprout in less than a week will make it the perfect plant to start with some ground cover in areas of La Gonave that has no vegetation. Also future plans of constructing roads will need plants like this that can be planted along the roadway and ditches.  These plants will pull out any pollution that is in the soil.  As a result the runoff water is cleaner as it enters waterways.  Due to the plant absorbing pollution, any plants that are along the roadway should not be eaten.  The Bidens, while very healthy to eat ...