ABSTRACT

The Haitian peasant is usually pictured as an individualist and the Haitian economy is strongly pervaded by individualist features. Land is privately owned. Production of agricultural goods takes place on some 600,000 private farms. 1 The marketing of agricultural produce is carried out by middlemen who compete and work for their own individual benefit. Yet, co-operative structures have in the past played an important role in the economy and the remnants of these structures can still be found in contemporary Haitian society.