On Tuesday, a delegation composed among others of Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Managing Director of the World Bank, of the IDB representative in Haiti, of Thomas Jacques, of Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), Marie-Carmelle Jean-Marie, Minister of Economy and Finance, proceeded to the closure of the first phase of the project of Strengthening of Agricultural Public Services (RESEPAG I) in the Southern Department (Lévy).

In his remarks for the occasion, the Minister Jacques said he was satisfied for the realization of this project, which is of paramount importance for the agricultural sector and thanked the World Bank, that funded this project up to 5 million U.S. dollars, which aimed to help farmers and service providers of the plain of Les Cayes and those of hiotte in the department of South-East.

The Minister Marie-Carmelle Jean-Marie, welcomed the realization of this project that will allow farmers of the Southern Department to promote new technical packages to increase yields, in the perspective of reducing food insecurity, preaching solidarity among farmers in order to ensure better management of agricultural projects in the region.

Ms. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, showed satisfaction about the works done by the RESEPAG I "I did a tour in the area and I found that the yield is excellent [...] Moreover, I can announce that the World Bank has committed to fund the second phase of RESEPAG II."

The RESAPAG I allowed the Haitian government to subsidize : seeds, insecticides, fertilizers (chemical and organic), plowing land for crops such as beans and corn and traps for bark beetles (insect pest), size and relining for coffee regeneration... More than 5,000 farmers have been hit in this program according to Hermann Augustin, Coordinator of RESEPAG which has announced that more than $50 million are already available for RESEPAG II that will cover the departments already involved, but also the North and Northeast.

Present at the ceremony, local farmers have not failed to praise the project. They managed to sow in time, they got to increase the yield of their plot. However, they suggested that the second phase takes into account the credit, storage and market. The Ministry stated that arrangements had already been made to provide an answer to the question of credit.

HL/ TB/ HaitiLibre