The farmer teaching Haitians to fish for life

The farmer teaching Haitians to fish for life
From Edvige Jean-Francois, CNN


STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Valentin Abe has started a fish farm in Haiti that's been growing leaps and bounds
His fish farming project has become a source of food and income for poor communities
Born in Ivory Coast, Abe moved to the U.S. to study before relocating to Haiti
He's been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People In the World
Every week CNN's African Voices highlights Africa's most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera. This week we profile Ivorian fish farm developer Valentin Abe, whose work in Haiti has prompted Time Magazine to name him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Watch the show on Saturdays 1130 and 1830 GMT, Sundays 1700 GMT and Monday 1130 and 1630 GMT.


Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti (CNN) -- Far from his native Ivory Coast, fish farm developer Valentin Abe has been improving the lives of thousands of poor villagers in Haiti by teaching them how to become commercial fish producers.

His fish-farming project has become a source of food and income for several communities in the small Caribbean nation that has been plagued by poverty, malnutrition and, more recently, the full force of a devastating 7.0 tremor.

"Give someone a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for life," Abe told CNN from his two-and-a-half-acre fish farm in Croix-des-Bouquets, where he raises tilapia -- a high-protein, warm water fish-- before distributing them to lakeside villagers.

"And I kind of took it and said, well, why not apply it? Go in the field and apply it and teach as many people as I can how to fish and I will feed them for life. And that's how everything started."

The agriculture expert, who left Ivory Coast in 1989 to study in the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship, first set foot in Haiti in 1997. He was soon convinced that if he could teach the country's poor fishermen to supplement regular fishing with fish farming, their lives would be transformed.

But his attempts to generate interest in fish farming fell on deaf ears.

"I was just walking around and wondering why that aquaculture or fish culture is not developed in this country? There is so much potential," he said.

"I drew the plan, talked to as many people as I could but nobody was really interested. But you travel around Haiti and you see there are lakes sitting there. And I said well, I know what I'm going to do."

Despite failing to secure private loans or get backing from the Haitian government, Abe decided to forge ahead with his vision and fund the project out of his own pocket.

In 2006, he managed to scrape together $15,000, which he used to buy his first set of tanks and initial batch of fish hatchlings.

Four years later, his hatchery has grown to contain 36 aluminum tanks.

It is there where breeding fish purchased from Egypt and Israel are grown until they reach what's called the fingerling size -- at two months old.

Then the baby tilapia are distributed to the lakeside villagers along with their feed and a portable metallic cage. Four months later the fish are fully-grown and ready to harvest.

"Everywhere that we have our project, there's people that are poor. And they don't want to stay poor. They want to be allowed to improve their life,' Abe says.

The work Abe's been doing quietly for years in his adopted country paid off in a big way last October. Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, a UN envoy in Haiti, visited Abe's hatchery and was so impressed that he nominated him as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

"Time Magazine was a big surprise," Abe says. "They called me and said, 'You've been nominated for the Time 100, do you accept the nomination?' At first, I thought it was a joke, I thought somebody was playing a bad joke on me."

Far from a joke, the award and Clinton's support have started to pay dividends. His project has now received extra funding that will go a long way to help the farming families and, by extension, many Haitians displaced in the aftermath of January's quake.

"Those fish are sold in the market, so you have the merchants that will buy fish. Then you have the people that will come buy the fish for the consumption, so improve nutrition, that's added benefit to different communities. And then the money is running around," he says.

When asked why not bring his work and expertise back to his homeland, Abe says: "Yes, I'm from Africa. I'm from the Ivory Coast but now I'm a son of Haiti. Why do it in Haiti? Well, because Haiti, at that time, was the most suitable place to do it.

"Now, this doesn't mean that I cannot help Africa. After I set up the program here in Haiti, I might go back to Africa, everywhere they need me. That's who I am and that's what I want to do -- everywhere I'm needed is home."

Teo Kermeliotis contributed to this report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/14/valentin.abe.fish.farming/

Between this guy and the so called zintelketyel haitian big mouths who is more useful to the country? Why did it take an african to do this in haiti and our agronome -economists are only writing equations to solve haitians problems?

Bon mezanmi, nou pa bezwen pale de agwonòm, ekonomis, politisyen e zòt.
Se yon ti kras imajinasyon ak koural sèlman sa pran.

Neg lan envesti $15,000 pou l komanse ti biznis saa.
Gade ki rezilta sa bay.
Nenpòt ayisyen lan diaspora ta kapab fè sa si yo ta vle.

Si yon nèg pa ta vle fè sa pou kont li, nenpòt 3 ayisyen ta kapab reyini ti kob saa.

Rès la se kreyativite, dedikasyon ak anvi fè yon bagay pou peyi a.
Anmemtan se yon pwofit yon nèg ap fè.

Nou tout te dwe panse a de ti pwojè apeprè konsa.

Ou genyen rezon vre se pa selman grand disè ti fesè yo pou nou blame men se pou nou blame tet nou tout ki ap pale,kritike depi plis pase 20 lane san fè anyen.mwen rekonet tò mwen paske si afriken yan ka pran chans pou li al viv an ayiti poukisa mwen kache deyè insekirite poum di ke mwen pap mete pye.;mwen ta renmen se yon lout moun ki ale poum envesti lajanm nan konpayi ke yo fòme poukisa mwen pa ale fome bizniss sa ke mwen wè peyi ya beswen genyen yon moun ki te di mwen chita nan bon airkondityone epi map radote tout la sent jounen li genyen rezon wi.Jodya mwen di ke mwen twò gran moun men 20 lane de sela mwen pat kò gran moun konsa.nou tout koupab depi komanse sou mwen.

Le gros roseau a écrit:Ou genyen rezon vre se pa selman grand disè ti fesè yo pou nou blame men se pou nou blame tet nou tout ki ap pale,kritike depi plis pase 20 lane san fè anyen.mwen rekonet tò mwen paske si afriken yan ka pran chans pou li al viv an ayiti poukisa mwen kache deyè insekirite poum di ke mwen pap mete pye.;mwen ta renmen se yon lout moun ki ale poum envesti lajanm nan konpayi ke yo fòme poukisa mwen pa ale fome bizniss sa ke mwen wè peyi ya beswen genyen yon moun ki te di mwen chita nan bon airkondityone epi map radote tout la sent jounen li genyen rezon wi.Jodya mwen di ke mwen twò gran moun men 20 lane de sela mwen pat kò gran moun konsa.nou tout koupab depi komanse sou mwen.

Sen espri resi desann nan tèt wou Roseau? (lol) Li lè pou nou sispann ap lonje dwèt tout jounen, oligachi ti lolit gwo trip lan ak elit repinyan pa an Ayiti sèlman. Se si yon gouvènman ta monte epi yo ta di ke y ap amande konstitisyon an pou bay doub nasyonalite an, men a kondisyon ke pou dyaspora a peye 10% taks sou reveni yo, pou nou ta wè valè nèg ki t ap brandi paspò etranje yo sèlman.

AAAH mesye.
Ondire na p fè pwogrè.

Wozo, nou pa bezwen blame tèt nou kòm move sitwayen.
Se aprann pou nou aprann gade sitiyasyon yo yon lòt jan.
Avek zye ki pran ka tout aspè sosyoekonomik nou.

Si chak envestisè te dedye ti $15,000 l lan yon ti pwojè lan bouk kote lonbrit li antere a, se tout peyi a ki ta p devlope san "nou pa dwe pèsonn anyen".
(sonje chante Gi Dirozye a?)

Thundè (Tindè?), kòm mwen pa kwè lan sentespri, ma di ke w gen rezon lan sans ke nèg ap chanje mantalite.

Petet se reyalizasyon gwolobo 12 janvye a ki fè nou vin pi saj.
Se tèlman vre sa w di an:
Se petèt konsa pou nou ta wè si dyaspora a ta mete kob li kote bouch li ye.
(Put your money where your mouth is?)

Sa se yon bel pwoje, mwen kontan ke gin moun kap angaje yo nan lapech, paske tout tan se de agrikilti ak lot biznis wap tande selman, tandis ke nou gin lanme ki antoure peyi a epi ayisyen ap impote pwason!

Si mwen raplem byen gin pwoje konsa ou parey li ki deja derape aktyelman an Ayiti nan konstriksyon anpil "lacs collinaires" ke yon Frere Armand ap develope a travers le pays. Li te resevwa pres de $1M de Preval pou kontinye pwoje sa-a. Colocolo te vini ak atik, ak foto nan yon thread sou fowom nan.


Epi min yon lot ankor:

http://www.lenouvelliste.com/article.php?PubID=&ArticleID=64253

De pwoje fre Armand:

http://www.lenouvelliste.com/article.php?PubID=&ArticleID=36250

http://www.lenouvelliste.com/article.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=67257

Sasaye!

Wou wè genyen youn k ap tire galèt yo ki reponn pou pwopozisyon sa a?

Kote moun ki toujou ap reklame dwa yo? Eske yo pare pou ranpli devwa yo?

Kote moun ki toujou wè ti klips bwa nan zye vwazen yo? Eske yo pare pou retire 2x4 ki nan figi yo a?

Kote moun ki toujou ap blenyen pou manje ki pa genyen sèl yo? Eske yo pare pou antre nan kwizinn nan?

...Se sa ke mwen te panse.

Sassaye

Se pa vle nou pa ta vle mete yon 15000 dola nan peyi ya.men tou fok politiysen ayisyen ba moun souf ak hing hang tout la sent jounen nan zafè elektyon.nan zafè ote toi que je m'y mette lan.moun pap vinn envesti lajan yo nan yon peyi ki pou ti krik ti krak politisyen leve yon deblozay dechoukaj.

Moun Paul magloire te konn rele :"les eternels mecontents."dwe ba peyi ya yon break pou moun ki pa parese vinn pwodwi manje ,bien ak servis nan peyi ya.napren oken politisyen ayisyen ki ap vinn ba nou tou sa nou beswen; nanpren Tonton Noel vre.