Fast Facts on the U.S. Government’s Work in Haiti: Food Security

The Challenge

Even before the January 12, 2010, earthquake, Haiti faced significant challenges to food security. Declining agricultural productivity led to malnourishment and urban migration. Prior to the earthquake, 40 percent of households were undernourished, and 30 percent of children suffered from chronic malnutrition. While approximately 60 percent of Haitians worked in agriculture, more than 50 percent of the food consumed in Haiti was imported.

USG Strategy

Food security is one of the four priority sectors of U.S. Government (USG) development investment in Haiti. The USG’s global Feed the Future initiative is supporting the Government of Haiti’s (GOH) priorities, working to ensure sustainable growth in the agricultural sector in fertile plains. The USG is working with farmers, farmer associations, and scientists to introduce new techniques and technologies, strengthen agricultural infrastructure along the whole value chain, and attract investments from private businesses. The overall aim is to improve livelihoods through increased income for more than 100,000 farmer households. This investment will not only lead to nutritional improvements in the population but also improve the lives of farmers benefitting from increased crop yields and incomes.

Accomplishments

Despite the challenges, the USG has made significant accomplishments since the earthquake in ensuring the food security of the Haitian people. Since the earthquake, USG assistance has:

• Increased agricultural-related income of beneficiary rural households by 76 percent by rehabilitating irrigation systems and rural roads and supporting storage and processing facilities.
• Introduced improved seeds, fertilizer, and technologies to more than 9,700 farmers; these have increased rice yields by 118 percent, corn yields by 368 percent, bean yields by 85 percent, and plantain yields by 21 percent for beneficiary farmers.
• In Fiscal Year 2011, trained more than 10,000 people in natural resource management and/or biodiversity conservation, including soil conservation, tree nurseries, and hillside production. As a result, more than 10,000 hectares of farmland are now under improved natural resource management. Nearly 13,000 farmers, more than 40 percent of whom are women, have enrolled in the Haiti Hope project. This program is a partnership among USAID, The Coca-Cola Company, the Multilateral Investment Fund, and TechnoServe that aims to create opportunities for 25,000 Haitian mango farmers and their families.
• Graduated 1,230 people from a master farmers program.
• Increased the income of 5,000 cacao growers by a minimum of 25 percent through partnerships with private-sector entities to train farmers in cocoa production.
• Provided mobile collection centers, sorting tables, and 6,000 plastic crates for mango harvesting, increasing mango sales by three farmer associations to exporters by more than 65 percent.
• Increased economic benefits derived from sustainable natural resource management and conservation, benefitting nearly 15,000 people through ravine treatment, hillside rehabilitation, and improved technologies that have enhanced the quality of crop output.

This fact sheet originally appeared on the U.S. Department of State website.