With funds from IFAD, IICA will be implementing a program designed to create work and guarantee food security in the rural areas hit hardest by the earthquake. In the photo, the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, IFAD, and IICA are pictured at the ceremony held to launch the project.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has donated US$2.5 million to enable the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to implement a program in Haiti aimed at repairing irrigation systems and strengthening grassroots organizations in the areas most affected by the January 12 earthquake.

Following the earthquake, some 600,000 people fled the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, seeking refuge in rural areas and putting great pressure on local resources and the agricultural infrastructure.

The new program created for Haiti since the earthquake will target food security and the creation of work in the rural areas affected. Members of the local population will help repair 13 irrigation systems, rebuild 12 kilometers of rural roads, construct 300 community and family vegetable gardens and equip nearly 9000 households with seeds and harvesting tools.

Alfredo Mena, IICA’s Representative in Haiti, explained that agreements for the execution of the program were signed with the Haitian Center for the Promotion of Agriculture and Protection of the Environment (CEHPAPE) and the Haitian Foundation for Latin American and Caribbean Development (FONHDILAC).

The program, to be implemented by organized groups of rural women and grassroots groups, aims to strengthen the social capital by means of more than 250 training courses on marketing, agricultural production, gender equity and the creation of organizations.

It is estimated that the project will generate around 200,000 working days in the target areas. Furthermore, a green component has been incorporated to promote soil conservation and reforestation. The objective is not only to offer short-term aid to the rural population affected, but also to provide sustainable solutions that will allow Haiti to progress in the years ahead.

More information: alfredo.mena@iica.int