Creole Pig

The Creole pig was a breed of pig from Haiti.

Creole pigs were well adapted to the harsh landscape and sparse vegetation of Haiti. The hardness of these pigs allowed the peasants to keep them with little resources. The farm workers claimed that these pigs would never get sick.

Creole pigs were the Haitian agricultural workers as a savings account: You were sold or slaughtered to pay for weddings, medicines, schools, seed or a voodoo ceremony. The drag force and the impetuous temper of the pigs they made as well as their inclusion in the voodoo folklore and the oral tradition of the Haitian Revolution to a symbol of independence and personality of the Haitians.

The Creole pigs were well adapted to local conditions; they came out with little food and could be a good time, which is why they were very popular with the Haitian Peasant farmers. Nevertheless, they were almost eradicated in the 1970s and 1980s, ostensibly to prevent the intention of the advance of African swine fever which had then spread from Spain to the Dominican Republic and Haiti on the Artibonite. According to the U.S. in 1982 had African swine fever infects nearly one-third of the Haitian Kreolenschweinpopulation. Fearing the spread of the disease in the United States and their potential impact on agriculture, practiced the USA from political pressure on the Haitian government to slaughter all pigs in their country.

This reasoning was followed in the wake of the government of Jean -Bertrand Aristide, as well as numerous academic reports, including a report, which was published in a 1990 issue of " Stretch". The extermination of the Creole pigs contributed another to the already struggling farm workers further into poverty. She forced many children no longer go to school. Small farmers were forced to mortgage their land. Many Haitians cut down trees to get something dazuzuverdienen with the production of charcoal. This contributed to the Wüstenwerdung the Haitian landscape, which had been started by the overpopulation.

In the Haitian agricultural worker community, the extermination and repopulation programs of the government were strongly criticized. The peasants protested, not to have been adequately compensated for their pigs. Furthermore, it is the breed that was imported from the U.S. to replace the hard Kreolenschweine, not suitable for the Haitian environment and economy.

The new breed of pigs that had been imported from the USA came, usually of the large farms in the American Midwest. They were described as "better" than the Kreolenschwein. However, they needed clean water, which is not available for 80 percent of the Haitian population, imported feed (90 U.S. dollars expensive, with a per capita income of Haiti from 130 U.S. Dollars), vaccination and special sties with a very specific roof. There is no agreement on whether the import of these pigs was encouraged by the U.S. agriculture industry, as the attitude of so imported products depends. The Haitian agricultural workers called the pigs soon "prince à quatre pieds, " ( four-footed prince ). The repopulation program was a complete failure.

Recently, Haitian and French agricultural engineers bred a new Schweinevarietät with the same good qualities as the Haitian Kreolenschwein. An attempt to repopulate Haiti with this race is going.