ARTICLE - CARDI - REVIVE HAITI'S AGRICULTURE

CARDI TO REVIVE HAITI'S AGRICULTURAL
(Trinidad Guardian) - By Shaliza Hassanali

The Caribbean Agriculture and Research Development Institute (Cardi), through donor funding from Caricom, Australia, the Common Fund for Commodities and the European Union, has pledged to resuscitate Haiti’s struggling agriculture sector. The resuscitation comes in the form of three projects, which Cardi will use to rebuild the sector which was ravaged by the January 12, 2010, catastrophic 7.0 earthquake.

Cardi’s aim is to not only revive agriculture but to assist in the development of a sustainable sector to get the impoverished nation back on its feet. The three projects are being executed in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture, with support and active participation from Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, said Cardi’s executive director Dr Arlington Chesney.

Chesney explained that in 2010 a mandate was given by the 33rd Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development in Suriname for Cardi to embark on a US$ 1.6 million initiative with donor funding from Caricom, Australia, the Common Fund for Commodities and European Union.

Project One involves the support for re-vegetation, a key component of the resuscitation of agriculture in Haiti. Last July, Cardi sent its first shipment of 16,000 kilogrammes of red kidney beans, corn, and black peas to Haiti. The first beneficiaries were farmers in the Leogane area near the epicentre of the 2010 earthquake. The second shipment of 25,000 kilogrammes of yellow corn arrived in February.

The second project, Chesney said, will increase Caribbean production of roots and tuber crops through the introduction of improved marketing and production technologies. Particular focus will be on training interventions in sweet potato and yam production. The third project is geared toward increased production of vegetables and herbs through use of protected agriculture. To assist Haitian farmers, Chesney said a protected agriculture training plan had been developed, with the hosting of a workshop last August 2011 and establishment of a cluster embryo. This was followed by a conference on protected agriculture last December.

“This project will seek to demonstrate the economic advantages commensurate with use of protected agriculture systems in vegetable and herb production,” Chesney explained. Ultimately, one of the objectives, he said is to create transparent business linkages with benefits for smallholders, producer groups and co-operatives involved in protected agriculture. It is expected that activities in projects two and three will be accelerated this year. Chesney said this support shows the region’s helping hand to Haiti.