New methods are needed to improve crop production and grain storage in order to feed the rapidly increasing population of Haiti. This study aims to identify the factors preventing the Northwest department of Haiti's farmers from increasing maize productivity; to improve winter storage of grain and to produce recommendations for the farming community, thereby reducing the current poverty levels.
Sowing time and density, pest control and storage experiments were conducted. When sowing time was changed from mid-winter to the beginning of the rainy season both vegetative production and yield were increased. Yield increases were also achieved by reducing plant density. The traditional plant density produced the lowest yield, whether sown early or at the
farmer's time of sowing. Domestic fowl species such as the Guinean fowl (Numida meleagris), Chicken (Gallus domesticus), and Turkey (Meleagris gallonpavo), allowed to scavenge in the maize field, to controlled the European maize borer (Ostrinia nubilalis, (Hubner)) most effectively when maize
was sown at the beginning of the rainy season. The fowl had a greater impact on the borer population when maize was grown at the lower density.
The new basket storage method reduced grain loss to both maize weevil and rodents, when tested over 6 months. This will allow farming communities to keep harvested grain from one harvest to the next without damage. A coating of mud on the inside and outside of the baskets allowed grain storage for longer periods. Monthly assessment of stored grain occurred and infestation problems
could be treated with minimal pesticide before they resulted in significant grain loss. The size of storage house was also an important factor. Small storage houses suffered slightly more grain damage. Big houses without mud-coated walls were found to be acceptable to the farming community.
Sowing a reduced plant density earlier in the year, introducing fowl to the sown fields and
adopting the basket storage method should lead to greater farming productivity in Haiti. It is hoped that subsistence farmers, freed from these technical problems, will be capable of feeding the people of Haiti, be raised above the poverty line and be able to cope more effectively with the effects of climatic variability.