Haiti - Agriculture : Increase production and farmers' incomes...
Agriculture in Haiti represents 25% of national GDP, it support approximately 45% of the needs of the population, 60% of jobs created but can barely generate 100 million dollars ; many small producers did not even manage to survive with single income from their crops and are even forced to migrate to big cities, while in neighboring Republic, agriculture representing only 8.7% of GDP generates $ 800 million.
In order to increase production and income of farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, in collaboration with the World Bank in 2013 launched a pilot program of subsidies on request for farmers, entitled "Strengthening of Agricultural Public Services" (RESEPAG)
Through the program, approximately 3,000 farmers of the Southern Department receive vouchers that allow them to partially finance plowing services, purchase of fertilizers and pesticides and to benefit from training. These services and products are purchased from eligible suppliers.
According to Jean Jacques Débalio, Departmental Director for the South of the Ministry of Agriculture, this subsidy mechanism on demand, is already bearing fruit. He said observe a net increase of agricultural production at the departmental level, and a return of some migrants to the countryside "When we look at the bulletin of the National Coordination of Food Security in the South, certainly they are currently people who are food insecure, but the amount was considerably reduced [...] Everything is not only due to RESEPAG but, all the projects, with the increase in production has allowed us to have some food availability in the department [...]
[...] The increased production has significantly reduced the prices of food commodities, thereby improving access to food. One of the challenges of the program now is to enable farmers to continue to increase their income despite the decline in prices. That is why it is important to work on the techniques posts crop and farm management allowing to benefit from other support to improve storage conditions or learn how to transform their products to add them value."
