I feel just as naive as you, and I've lived here over a year. I have no answers for you. I see food rotting at the markets everyday, and no one ever attempts to decrease the price at the end of the day or anything. I think one problem here is that the soil here is crap, although Surinamers would tell you otherwise.
I remember as a kid reading about slash and burn, and it still remains true. You can cut down the Amazon trees and farm the land, but it can only last so long, because those trees have long roots that reach way down for nutrients, and there is little to be had on the surface. I have seen a few places here with several inches of topsoil formed from deciduous forest leaves, but it's not the norm here at all.
I also think people just aren't willing to work that hard in the agricultural industry. The Haitians came here and outfarmed the Surinamers in a matter of years. I can't even imagine what Cambodian citizens would do here if given land grants. We are pretty spoiled vegan chefs, and most people rave about Suriname's food, but I've had authentic Chinese, Indian, and Indonesian foods, and none of the Suriname versions compare to the original.
You would think there might be a Malaysia type thing going on here, where the cultural melting pot would inspire creativity, experimenting and diversity, but it's much the opposite. There is only one choice in the whole country for a vegetarian roti filling, and that is potatoes and longbeans prepared the exact same way in every location. !ENGAGE 55
Hahahaha, that the Haitians outfarmed the Surinamers sounds quite familiar. Here in Mexico there is a similar story in the state of Veracruz, and I don't even know where the afrodescendants came from. Anyway, it sounds impressive to outfarm Mexican campesinos, but they did it.
But who are the Surinamers anyway? Colonizing Dutch settlers? Or people who migrated from other Dutch dependencies, like Indonesia? Are there any local, indigenous, South American cultures left, who could impart their knowledge of working the land? I think that may be a key ingredient to successful farming.
Have you heard about Terra Preta? From what I've read, it was an indigenous way of the peoples of the Amazon, using one's waste (kitchen compost, human feces, charcoal from fires, and broken clay) to turn into dark fertile soil that was way more nutritious than what the rainforest would create, where most nutrients were up in the many layers of vegetation.
Okay, I don't know where I'm going with this. In any case, the situation of a poor selection of expensive produce makes me see it as an opportunity for food production. But then again, I'm sure others must have thought of this before... So maybe there is something about the whole situation (government?) that makes such ideas unfavorable? I don't know. I'm left with a feeling mixed of bewilderment and unused potential.
The native tribes here stay in the Amazon, but I think they were traditionally hunters and gatherers, so any agriculture they get involved with is likely copying the style of methods they've seen others do already.
Soil rehabilitation is possible, but really tough. I've seen in sandy soils in Cambodia, with one strong rain, all the compost and organics get pushed through the sand and disappear, so it would take many years here to rehabilitate the land, and we are only migrants wanting to leave, so I doubt we will help with this problem. I've tried Caribbean life, North American life and even Latin American living, but ultimately the western way of life is just not for us.
I've heard of Terra Preta, but unused potential is the name of the game in Suriname. Too many want to go to Miami, Amsterdam, Curacao, and Aruba, so there is a lot of brain drain. Although there isn't a cocaine use problem here, many locals have told me a lot of the easy wealth here comes from helping Latin American countries ship cocaine from Suriname, so I think there are few incentives to work that hard.
Luckily the Cubans and Haitians keep things moving here, but the Venezuelans left a long time ago. I haven't seen one in at least half a year, so that speaks to the level of problems here. !ENGAGE 100
Aha, that makes sense: smuggling, easy wealth. Well, at least it's good to hear that it doesn't come with the cocaine use problem, or worse, with the territorial battles of those who are engaged in it.
As for land rehabilitation, maybe the native hunter-gatherers got it all figured out: instead of growing human made landscapes, let the forest take over, accumulate all the nutrients above ground, and well... hunt and gather them.
Thank you for all this interesting insight into one of the places I had virtually no idea about.
ENGAGEtokens.