I have remained in Haiti for a whole year without traveling abroad, with the exception of a one-day stint to Elias Pinas, Dominican Republic, observing the effect of climate change on the country. I am pleased to report happily, that Haiti, akin to its people, is resilient to climate change. Resilience is that capacity to fight against the rigors of life, to rebound with vigor and continue to grow while surmounting the stress of daily living or daily obstacles.
The issue of climate change is a hot topic today as the United Nations assembles in New York to demand the nations of the world to reflect and ponder on the consequences of gas emission on each continent and each country in a climate summit meeting preceding the larger World Climate Meeting next year in Paris. In parallel to the UN assembly, some 300,000 people marched in New York City under the label People's Climate March on Sunday, September 21, to sensitize world decision makers on the need to take action to remedy this dangerous environmental situation.
I have observed over the past five years that rain has been constant and regular in Haiti every night from April 1 to November 1. This year this pattern has been reversed - it is only this September that rain has come every night, a common and hospitable companion to the vegetation in Haiti.
In spite of the lack of rain, food production has been abundant in the country. The flowers leading to the formation of the crops (since there was no rain) have remained on the trees, giving up a crop that reminds one of the seven good years announced by Joseph to the Pharaoh.
Francis mangoes, the Haitian green gold from April 15 to July 15, in the peak season, have filled the shelves of the supermarkets not only in New York but were plentiful in the open markets in Haiti. The small season for the mangoes that usually arrive in January is already in full harvest in September.
As soon as the mango crop was gone for this year, the kenepa and the giant apricot were all over the shelves in July and August, providing the itinerant merchants with a new line of goods.
Guava, the versatile fruit, which is good for juicing and marmalade, was plentiful. It reminds me of the good old times when guava was not in the food chain of products to be sold but used as a dessert for the pigs.
The avocados have been on top of their game for the home consumers in September, in spite of the fact some of them have crossed the frontiers to be sent to the US via Dominican Republic shippers.
The sour note is the orange crop due in November and December, which is compromised due to the fact that the citrus is being harvested while green and not mature enough for consumption. The ministry of agriculture and commerce failed to take adequate steps to facilitate the importation of oranges from other countries during the off-season to satisfy through the year the need for oranges in the chain of consumption.
This rosy canvas painted early also has its dark side. In October and November, the many mahogany trees will be ready to deliver millions of seeds from the pods that resemble a pear or an avocado, with hundreds of seedlings that could replenish the Haitian flora. Very few people, including the personnel of the ministry of environment and the ministry of agriculture, are aware of that bonanza. The seedlings will be lost in the wind instead of being put in the soil to enrich the Haitian nation with a green and permanent endowment.
The coffee trees have almost disappeared due to the fact that most of the trees have been cut for charcoal, the ready-made local commodity with a safe and sure market, since 90 per cent of the households use that fuel for home cooking. Charcoal should be the business of the government making money from discarded trees or trees planted just for that purpose. The ministry of environment should be a giant moneymaker for the citizens of Haiti through charcoal production and the exploitation of precious trees such as ebony and mahogany.
Climate change has produced a perverse beneficial outcome with the produce in season remaining later and that for the next season coming out earlier. I have seen soursop (reportedly a good defense against cancer) due for the spring season already on the shelves in autumn.
The magic of Haiti is also in its many rural fiestas. I have followed this summer the cultural festival of saints in the northern part of Haiti. It is an exceptional trail based on the manifestation of Catholic fervor and voodoo engagement. It brings you right back to the Middle Ages when religion was at the center of life.
The festival of saints, an historical tradition proper to Haiti, is not correctly exploited. Very few tourists take part in that summer-long fiesta that a reasonable country bent on wealth creation would exploit to the utmost. The religious procession through the frontier streets of Ouanaminthe, for example, on August 15 for the feast of our Lady of Assumption, is soothing, comforting and filled with ecstasy that could replace several sessions of psychiatric consultation.
The people of Haiti, living in extreme natural wealth while vegetating in the midst of extreme poverty, have not yet found the magic formula to create wealth for all. Haiti, through its resilient biosphere which suffered raw exploitation by the colonial French and wrong exploitation by its people and its own governments, is still ready to deliver its wealth.
It needs the right vision that will stop the discrimination against 90 per cent of the population. It needs excellent infrastructure and sane institutions from the capital to the most remote rural villages. It needs to recalibrate its divine mission of an emancipatory nation bent on helping the failed nations of the world to create a sense of common vision for the future that includes "le vivre en commun" amongst all the sectors of the population.
On a more practical level, Haiti needs the shepherding support of the Caribbean Export Development Agency. I have noticed that no application was received from or at least no award went to Haiti in the call for proposals for funding to help the agro-processors to meet the stringent standard of food safety in produce exportation to the EU and to the United States.
This, more than magic or anything else, will help Haiti and its people incrementally enter the highway of wealth creation by sending its organic avocado, soursop, passion fruit and guava to connoisseurs in London, Paris and New York.
o Jean Charles is a syndicated Haitian columnist. This column is published with the permission of Caribbean News Now.

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