| Boost for Haitian rice growers
The HSG is pleased to report that, according to information from sources in Haiti, both the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) and the international NGO, CARE, have recently contacted a network of rice producers' cooperatives in the Artibonite department with a view to purchasing their produce. The HSG had earlier written to both organisations to inform them that, contrary to news reports stating that the country's agricultural sector had been more or less wiped out by the summer hurricanes and flooding, some farmers' cooperatives had surplus rice and beans in stock and for sale, and could provide guaranteed harvests in the months ahead. According to progressive organisations in Haiti, far from depriving Haitians of food, if international organisations source locally-grown food instead of paying vast amounts to import food from abroad it would greatly benefit the country's agricultural sector. This in turn would benefit the two-thirds of the population which derives its livelihoods from agriculture. Food surpluses that would not otherwise have arrived at local markets or, if they did, would have to compete with cheaper imported food, would be sold. With the proceeds from these guaranteed sales, farmers' cooperatives could invest in seeds, fertilsers, tools, and irrigation systems, in order to increase the size of future harvests. Over time, Haiti would increase the amount of food it produces, and produce it at a cheaper price. The dependence on food imports would decrease.
BackgroundThe World Food ProgrammeIn July 2008 the HSG wrote to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to ask what it was doing to help Haitian farmers in the context of the massive increase in the cost of imported food in Haiti. The letter referred to the WFP's Haiti programme entitled "Food Assistance for the Relief and Protection of Vulnerable Groups Exposed to Food Insecurity". The budget for this programme stated that the total cost would be US$123,869,951, of which the food would cost US$69,189,015, external transport US$15,209,208, and landside transport, storage and handling US$14,534,456. The HSG asked how much of the US$69 million would be spent on buying food produced in Haiti and how much on importing food from abroad. It also questioned the wisdom of allocating US$15.2 million to the transportation of imported food to Haiti - a staggering 22% of the entire budget! - and asked if it wouldn't be better to spend some of this amount on helping Haitian farmers to produce more food. The WFP is the United Nations' "frontline agency in the fight against global hunger" and its stated objectives are to a) save lives in refugee crises and other emergencies, b) improve nutrition and quality of life of world's most vulnerable people at critical times in their lives, and c) enable development by helping people build assets that benefit them directly, and promoting the self-reliance of poor people and communities. The HSG believes that the WFP in Haiti concentrates on objectives a) and b), and does little to achieve objective c). The WFP has been operating in Haiti since 1969! Year after year, over four decades,the focus of the main part of its activities in Haiti has been on providing food to hungry people. This approach means there is no solution to the problem, no victories in the fight against hunger. As a result, people in Haiti have remained hungry, and the WFP has continued to distribute (imported) food to feed them. The WFP acknowledged receipt of the letter but a promised reply never materialised. Research into WFP documentation indicated that it hardly sourced any food from local producers in Haiti. Remarks by WFP executive director Josette Sheeran revealed that the WFP's position on sourcing food from producers in Haiti could be paraphrased as: "We don't want to buy food produced in Haiti because that would deprive Haitians of the opportunity to buy food at their local market." While this sounds like a good answer, it however ignores the fact that one of the main problems facing Haitian farmers is finding reliable buyers for their harvests. Partly it's a question of logistics - because of the rudimentary transport system in Haiti, actually moving food produce from rural areas to the urban markets is a struggle. But another important factor is that over recent decades Haiti's private sector has specialised in developing the import business, especially the import of food. These food import businesses have thrived since the lowering and elimination of import tariffs - as demanded by the international finance institutions - in the mid-1990s.20Haiti has been flooded with cheap food imports, and Haitian farmers have found it ever more difficult to find buyers for their produce.
CARE CARE officials in Haiti responded that the organisation was obliged to distribute imported food because there was no locally-produced food available. The HSG replied with contact details of rice and bean farmers' cooperatives, and the details of the amounts of rice and beans they could supply.
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