Above: Haiti (UN Photo/Logan Abassi)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

A new coffee company heading to the United States is looking to do its part to help Haitian famers.

Par Haiti/Pour Haiti (“From Haiti for Haiti”), the brainchild of Michael Pereira, uses hand-roasted coffee made of 100 percent Haitian Arabica beans, with dollars generated by coffee sales helping to increase income for Haitian farmers.

“The Haitian people want their labours to mean something, and they want to be self-sustaining,” said Pereira, who is the CEO of Haiti Originale, which is pushing a range of Haitian-made products, from coffee to rum. “Par Haiti/Pour Haiti is the first product to support our cause of promoting sustainable development in Haiti.”

The first US distribution will occur at Whole Foods Market locations in Florida.

“This is the first of many products and programmes to promote Haitian products under the Par Haiti/Pour Haiti banner,” he said.

The coffee is shade-grown at high altitudes in Haiti, with each harvest hand-picked and dried by Haitians.

The company’s programme is extending to a host of categories, including cocoa, produce and apparel.