Haiti farmers in dire straits after Hurricane Sandy

Seed Daily via AFP: At an isolated farm in the town of Papaye in central Haiti, a group of farmers are counting the costs of Hurricane Sandy and trying to decide their next steps. The news from the meeting is grim.

Flooding unleashed by the massive storm killed more than 50 people and left thousands homeless in Haiti, another woe for an impoverished country still struggling to recover from a 2010 earthquake that left more than 200,000 dead.

Sandy also devastated the Caribbean nation's farming sector -- already reeling from a dry spell. "Haitian farmers were very affected by the drought, and then by the flooding caused by Hurricane Sandy," said Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the head of the Mouvement des Paysans de Papaye, an influential peasant movement. "Harvests were lost in most parts of the country. And now, there is a real risk of famine."...