“We have requests coming from everywhere, but we cannot supply them,” a guild owner in Saint-Michel-de-L’Attalaye complains to AyiboPost
In less than a year, the Saint-Michel entrepreneur, Renaud Louissaint, has had two very trying experiences.
In January 2023, while he was delivering an order of six barrels (drum) of clairin to customers in Port-au-Prince, heavily armed bandits intercepted the truck and forcibly recovered all the merchandise found there, around Bon Repos, at the northern entrance to the capital.
The entrepreneur had nearly 330,000 gourdes, a huge loss for his economy.
“Never again in Port-au-Prince,” he said to himself after what happened.
Two loans from the bank allowed him to get his head above water.
Thus, relying on his small team of six employees, Renaud Louissaint began producing again a few months later by having his products delivered to Saint Marc and Gonaïves.
But, in December 2023, his company received a second blow.
This time, the gang called “Kokorat san ras” seized the van which was transporting an order of more than 430,000 gourdes to Saint-Marc, in lower Artibonite.
“They forced us to unload the van and sent us home empty-handed,” the entrepreneur told AyiboPost.
In less than a year, the Saint-Michel entrepreneur, Renaud Louissaint, has had two very trying experiences.
This is the first time that Renaud Louissaint has recorded such losses since he started this business in 2013.
Located in the Artibonite department, the town of Saint-Michel-de-L’Attalaye is known for its very popular clairin.
This product, as well as other sugar cane derivatives, constitutes the main production of this municipality.
Since at least 2019, clairin producers have found themselves faced with a growing rise in attacks perpetrated by armed bandits in the Artibonite. This situation has led to significant losses for certain players, or even the outright closure of their distilleries.
Read also: Insecurity: At the bottom of the Artibonite, small businesses close their doors
“We have requests coming from everywhere, but we can’t supply them,” explains Fesly Dorcely, a guildive owner.
Since 2019, Dorcely has sold its products mainly in lower Artibonite, it has been able to count on its five regular customers who bought its clairin in bulk.
Thanks to this, the former law student sold at least 25 drums and his business could earn up to 250,000 gourdes per month.
The actions of the Savien gang called “Gran grif” from 2020 in the commune of Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite caused him to lose his clients, one after the other.
“I just spent two months without even being able to deliver a single order. It’s very difficult to keep going like that,” the young entrepreneur explains to AyiboPost.
A young man named Marcus Pierre visits a guildive on the side of National Road number 3 and takes the opportunity to taste sugar cane juice.
In addition to Bas-Artibonite, Dorcely supplied a few customers in the Haitian capital. The installation of toll points by bandits on the roads, particularly in Canaan, increased the price of transporting a barrel (drum) from 750 to 5000 gourdes, from Saint-Michel to Port-au-Prince. An increase of more than 560%.
Read also: Cornered by bandits, many drivers leave the sector
“It’s an unsustainable situation for someone who has taken out loans from the bank, who has to pay interest every month in a context where the product is no longer sold as before,” laments Dorcely.
Although the price of clairin varies depending on the time of year, the costs associated with road tolls drive up the price of the barrel. “A few years ago, it sold for 35,000, now it’s more than 50,000 gourdes,” Dorcely told AyiboPost.
Since 2020, clashes between armed gangs have plunged a large part of the Artibonite department into chaos. Between confiscation of their land and crops, looting and kidnapping, producers are at an impasse.
We have requests coming from everywhere, but we cannot supply them.
From January 2022 to November 2023, more than 1,000 people were kidnapped and 350 others killed in lower Artibonite, according to a report of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH).
Producers and traders experience daily attacks from the “Kokorat san ras” gang which operates in the municipalities of Gros-morne and L’Estère. But also the “Gran grif” gang which controls Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite, Liancourt, etc. Which blocks their way of delivering orders in the Far North, in the West and even within the department of Artibonite, where their main customers are located.
View of a distillation machine in a guildie along National Road number 3.
Many producers have productions waiting to find buyers.
For Emmanuel Alexis, coordinator of the Saint-Michel guild owners’ association, some have no other alternative than to turn to the local market.
Which, for the association manager, is not realistic.
Because the local market is already saturated. This creates deficits for producers to the point that some producers “prefer to close their guildives”.
For the economist Moïse Elius, originally from Saint-Michel, the sale of clairin represents a very important part of the commune’s economy. Thanks to this business, many families are able to meet their needs.
“When things don’t work well, we have cascading consequences,” explains the economist.
Despite the observation of a considerable increase of the surface area cultivated with cane for several years, the difficulties in selling the final product due to insecurity are affecting the lifestyle of Saint-Michel producers and merchants.
A sugar cane field along National Road number 3.
“Some are losing their jobs, which aggravates other already existing social problems,” he concludes to AyiboPost.
Moïse Elius knows at least one friend who was kidnapped at the beginning of the year when he was on his way to deliver an order to Gonaïves. He was released for ransom two weeks later.
According to a study published in 2022, more than 50% of the Saint-Michel population was food insecure in 2020.
Because, for years, climatic hazards have affected food production, necessary for food. In addition, residents face road infrastructure problems to get food in other areas.
The increase in insecurity exacerbates this situation.
Renaud Louissaint tries to adapt. Of his six employees, he was only able to keep two.
Faced with the damage inflicted on his economy, he is forced to reduce his lifestyle to what is strictly necessary: paying his children’s school fees and meeting the most essential needs.
“I continue to produce, despite the risks, because it is the only way to repay my loans to the bank,” the entrepreneur concludes to AyiboPost.
Par Wethzer Piercin
Cover image: Two workers in a guild in Haiti. | © Slow Food
Watch this report produced by AyiboPost in 2022 on the famous “Clairein Saint-Michel”:
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