Thursday, December 22, 2011

ARTICLE - JAPAN - $4.7M FOR AGRICULTURE

HAITI - JAPAN MOU PROMISES $4.7M (US) FOR HAITIAN AGRICULTURE
(Haiti Libre) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - A memorandum of understanding was signed with fanfare on Tuesday between the interim Charge d'Affaires of Japan and the Haitian government in hopes of providing support to the Haitian farmer.

The MoU is for $4.7 million [US] from the Japanese government, that will allow roughly 104,000 farmers in Haiti to be able to purchase agricultural products, said the Japanese Charge d'Affaires, Kentaro Minami.

The Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Laurent Lamothe, said that "this agreement will allow farmers to benefit from more than 6,000 tons of fertilizer to increase agricultural production."

Haitian Secretary of State for Plant Production, Dorcin Fresne, present at the ceremony, insisted that the fertilizer will not be given as a gift but sold at preferential prices.

Secretary Fresne added that the project would be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Secretary also noted that the distribution of fertilizer will depend on the priority given to certain parts of the country for their potential.

"I am convinced that this project will lead to a better result to combat food insecurity," Fresne argued.

With the successful completion of the promise made in the MoU, Japan will have satisfied its pledge of $100 million [US] made at the March 31, 2010 donors' conference at the United Nations in New York. At the conference, $10 billion [US] was pledge to Haiti to be disbursed over 10 years.

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