1941-1944: (SHADA’s $7 Million Loan and 90,000 Workers — SHADA Being Infused with a $7 Million Loan from the Import-Export Bank of the United States to Clear…

1941-1944: (SHADA’s $7 Million Loan and 90,000 Workers — SHADA Being Infused with a $7 Million Loan from the Import-Export Bank of the United States to Clear Land and Pay Farmers and Provided Administrators, Over 90,000 Haitian and US Citizens Employed — Yet the Plan Struggling from the Beginning as the Agricultural Ambitions Did Not Match the Ecological Context, a Drought in 1943-44 and the Cryptostegia Plant Not Taking Root in Certain Key Areas and a Fire at One SHADA Location All Stunting the Program): SHADA was infused with a $7 million loan from the Import-Export Bank of the United States to clear land and pay farmers to work the land, and was provided administrators to navigate the many moving parts of crop development, production, and exportation. Over 90,000 Haitian and US citizens were employed to do this work. Yet the plan struggled from the beginning, as the agricultural ambitions did not match the ecological context. In addition to a drought in 1943–44, it took time to cultivate the land. The cryptostegia plant did not take root in certain key areas, and a fire at one of the SHADA locations all stunted the program — the $7 million had purchased not a rubber industry but a lesson in the hubris of imposing Philippine ecology onto Caribbean soil.