Jatrofa Projenou's work in Haiti defies easy summary — so Rob Fisher, after a recent visit, distilled it into two diagrams that reveal just how ambitious and interconnected it really is.
Land, Livelihood and Food - These three words capture JP's core mission. Haiti's mountainsides are steep and stripped bare; LAND heals them. Families trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and subsistence farming need a way out; LIVELIHOOD creates one. And with Haiti importing roughly 60% of its food, malnutrition and chronic disease are everyday realities; FOOD changes that. Many JP efforts address all three at once — the 100,000 Trees AND MORE Project, for example, combines reforestation and agroforestry (LAND) with cash crops like pineapple (LIVELIHOOD) and nutritious staples like yams and cassava (FOOD).
Household, Community and Region - JP meets people where they are, at every scale! A single farm rescue reaches a household of 17–27 extended family members, transforming their land and their prospects. Zoom out to the community level — 500 to 1,000 people — and larger infrastructure becomes possible: JP built two cassaveries (cassava mills and bakeries) in 2025 and is on track to build three more in 2026. Zoom out further to the overall region of 500 square miles, and JP’s focus is on efforts such as its jatrofa products and an emerging project to produce and process cashews for export.
An Update on 100,000 Trees AND MORE! Approximately 70,000 trees have been planted as of June 1st! And JP is refining the program in real time. In response to food and cash scarcity, exacerbated by high inflation, JP has increased the amount of crops planted alongside trees to put more food on tables and income in hands while the trees are growing.
