The impact of Hurricane Matthew in the Great South in October 2016 was particularly violent in the livestock sector, causing losses of around 60% of the cattle and 85% of the poultry. Households whose livelihoods depended on animal production were largely decapitalised. Many surviving animals became ill. Given the high costs of veterinary treatment or sometimes the unavailability of veterinary drugs, farmers have struggled to care for their livestock.

Faced with this situation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR) and the Representation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Haiti, realized Mobile Clinics animal health services that have helped treat more than 20,000 head of cattle (cattle, horses, goats, pigs and sheep), through various communes in the departments of the South and Grand'Anse.

To facilitate regular access of livestock o veterinary care in affected communities, training and recycling sensitization sessions were conducted in parallel with Mobile Animal Health Clinics. To date, 25 veterinary officers and 200 agro-pastoralists have received training or retraining in animal health and nutrition. They learned how to make Multi-Nutritional Blocks (BMN) for livestock, using local products (wheat or rice bran, salt, bone powder, local plants: Moringa or Lucena, molasses, among others) whose buying also helps boost the local economy. It is in this same perspective that three Service Centers : manufacturing units and sales of hay, silage and BMN and veterinary mini-pharmacies, were set up.

These veterinary mobile clinics and trainings in production, health and animal nutrition, targeting 300 farm households, are part of the project "Protection and rehabilitation of the livelihoods of livestock farmers and artisanal fishermen affected by Hurricane Matthew", financed by the Belgian Development Cooperation and implemented by FAO.

HL/ HaitiLibre