Gangs set fire to grain depots and agricultural plantations in Artibonite

These attacks raise fears of worsening food insecurity in this key agricultural region of the country, which was already struggling to feed itself.

When the police returned to Liancourt in November 2024, many farmers who had been forced to flee months earlier went back to their land, hoping to resume their agricultural work.

But new gang attacks last July forced them to flee once again, abandoning their plantations, grain depots, and homes.

Two of them, who returned in September, told AyiboPost they saw several depots and mills burned down.

This is happening as this major agricultural region of Artibonite faces growing food insecurity, while many displaced families are living in extremely precarious conditions.

“Gangs destroyed plantations, looted or burned several depots. They even used sacks of rice and corn to build barricades in the streets,” said Valdo Jean, a journalist and agricultural technician living in Liancourt, speaking to AyiboPost.

Other similar episodes of destruction were reported in early October in the municipality of L’Estère.

Members of the “Kokorat san ras” gang set fire to rice fields and killed several people. Hundreds of residents had to leave the area to escape the gang’s violence.

Although no official assessment has been released by authorities, a dozen producers from this major rice-growing zone told AyiboPost they suffered losses sometimes reaching several hundred thousand gourdes.

“Gangs destroyed plantations, looted or burned several depots. They even used sacks of rice and corn to build barricades in the streets,” said Valdo Jean, a journalist and agricultural technician living in Liancourt, speaking to AyiboPost.

Since 2022, this 38-year-old tile worker had been cultivating four rice plots in L’Estère.

During the gang attack on October 15, he saw his plantation—which normally produced around fifty sacks of rice—go up in flames.

“Our garden was ready to be harvested,” he said.

The bandits also murdered workers and injured others, added the father of two.

For this season, he said he spent nearly 70,000 gourdes, mainly on seedlings and fertilizer.

“I lost a potential income of nearly 200,000 gourdes,” said the farmer, who expressed outrage at the current security situation.

Wilgens, meanwhile, is a member of “Kowalisyon,” a self-defense brigade in Liancourt fighting against gangs.

During the gang attacks on the plantations, they burned his four rice plots. He estimates the loss at around 250,000 gourdes.

“The bandits entered my rice field, uprooted and burned the rice, then killed two people who were working in the garden,” he told AyiboPost.

The criminals also burned down his house, along with the homes of his aunt and his cousin.

When gangs seized the area of Payen, in the same commune, they looted and burned more than half a dozen depots and mills, destroying hundreds of sacks of grain.

Farmers in Artibonite have been dealing with this increase in gang activity at least since 2018.

AyiboPost reporting and reports from international institutions show that many farmers have been forced to flee and resettle elsewhere in recent years, abandoning their land.

Those who remain continue cultivating at the mercy of armed gangs, who steal their livestock, seize part of their harvests, and impose taxes on irrigation water.

The announcement of the deployment of multinational forces led by Kenya alongside the national police at the end of last year has not stopped the violence.

Since mid-July, repeated attacks targeting crops and grain depots have been reported in Liancourt by farmer Valdo Jean.

When gangs seized the area of Payen, in the same commune, they looted and burned more than half a dozen depots and mills, destroying hundreds of sacks of grain.

Additionally, Jean said, many grains that were not burned are now sprouting inside the warehouses due to humidity and rain.

He said he met some owners of these depots who are now hungry and living in makeshift camps.

“The situation here is difficult. If nothing is done, we may face even darker days,” said Valdo Jean, who himself lost his rice plantation valued at nearly 50,000 gourdes.

Day after day, the Kokorat san Ras, Gran Grif, and more recently Taliban gangs, based in Canaan, intensify their reign of terror in the lower Artibonite.

They kill, hijack trucks, and kidnap people in Dessalines, L’Estère, Liancourt, and Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite.

Designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in May 2025, Gran Grif has been responsible for 80% of civilian deaths in Artibonite since 2022.

With authorities failing to achieve results, the population relies on a self-defense brigade attempting to resist.

But this brigade is often accused of using force against local residents.

In June, the Taliban gang, led by Jeff Gwo Lwa, attacked the commune of La Chapelle, near Mirebalais—an area already targeted by the same group three months earlier. The attackers destroyed property and burned homes.

Before launching the attack, they had already settled inside the town, said a local entrepreneur contacted by AyiboPost.

“Signs marked ‘Taliban’ were seen on several streets two weeks before the attack,” he said. This entrepreneur fled the town center on June 25, 2025, crossing the Artibonite River to find refuge.

On June 26, gang leader Jeff Gwo Lwa left his stronghold in Canaan and arrived in La Chapelle to assert control over the area.

In a video widely shared on social media, he boasted about taking control. Residents from nearby areas, including Martineau, Charrier, and Désarmes, fled in advance, fearing threats from armed bandits. These movements increased the number of displaced people in the region.

According to the National Food Security Coordination (CNSA), nearly six million Haitians are currently facing acute food crisis conditions.

Artibonite—commonly called Haiti’s breadbasket, and which once produced nearly 80% of the country’s rice—has been classified by the CNSA as a zone facing food emergency.

“It looks like a plot to permanently destroy our national production. In every production sector, we see the same trend toward destruction,” said Bertha Joseph, coordinator of GRAPNA, a network of about one hundred peasant organizations nationwide, speaking to AyiboPost.

She cited as examples the artistic village of Noailles, abandoned by artists in Croix-des-Bouquets, and agricultural zones in Kenscoff and Artibonite abandoned by farmers due to the presence of gangs.

“It breaks my heart to receive calls from producers who tell me they fled their land, lost everything, and now have to beg to survive,” Joseph lamented.

Behind the expansion of gangs targeting production zones, she pointed to structural problems such as the absence of agricultural loans or any type of support that could help farmers recover.

This educator, father of three, originally from Lestère, has been farming a plot of land for six years. During harvests, his production reached around fifty sacks of rice.

“It looks like a plot to permanently destroy our national production. In every production sector, we see the same trend toward destruction,” said Bertha Joseph, coordinator of GRAPNA, a network of about one hundred peasant organizations nationwide, speaking to AyiboPost.

For this season, his expenses for land preparation, inputs, and paying workers totaled nearly 100,000 gourdes.

“This loss saddens me, because the rice harvest allowed me to pay my children’s school fees and pay my rent,” the teacher said.

For Valdo Jean, producers feel more abandoned by the state than ever.

“We are on the brink of an unprecedented crisis in the valley. But very few people are talking about it. The authorities refuse to address it,” Jean told AyiboPost.

AyiboPost contacted two local officials and a representative of the Artibonite Valley Development Organization (ODVA), but they did not respond before this article was published.

Rolph Louis-Jeune contributed to this report.

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