Caribbean Basin Initiative

In the early 1980's, Haiti was self-sufficient in the field of rice production. However, the CBI called for liberalizing Haiti's economy and re-allocating nearly one-third of domestic Haitian food production toward export crops, and as a result of the subsequent shrinking of the rice industry and inundation of the market with cheap imported rice subsidized by the US government, Haitian farmers found their livelihoods crippled as they could not compete with the subsidized "Miami rice". Subsequently, rice production in Haiti plummeted, and many rural Haitians employed throughout the rice industry lost their source of income. However, American rice producers that took in government subsidies and dumped their product on Haiti, where tariffs on rice imports shrank from 35% to 3%, benefited greatly financially. ==See also==