The Impact of Agriculture on Rebuilding Haiti

By: Sunni Harris, Staff Member

After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, countries around the world sent search and rescue teams to find trapped victims and treat injured people. Elise Labott et al., Aid Begins Flowing to Haiti, Jan. 14, 2010, http://www.cnn.com
/2010/WORLD/americas
/01/13/haiti.aid.response/index.html (last visited Feb. 1, 2010). While it seems that Haiti still has many immediate needs (e.g. food aid), the relief efforts have shifted to focus on long-term sustainability. Lisa Bryant, Relief Efforts Shift to Rebuilding Haiti's Agriculture, Jan. 25, 2010, http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/disaster/Relief-Efforts--Rebuilding-Haitis-Agriculture--82598607.html (last visited Feb. 1, 2010). It seems that agriculture will have a huge impact on whether Haiti can survive and rebuild as a country.

On January 29^th 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced an investment plan to restore Haiti's agricultural ministry. Adriana Brasileiro, UN Group Urges $700 Million Investment in Haitian Agriculture, Jan. 29, 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=at_vFIabEsso (last visited Feb. 1, 2010). The FAO has urged international donors to invest $700 million over the next eighteen months for the purpose of "repairing infrastructure, boosting national food production and creating employment for the thousands of people fleeing the Caribbean country's capital." UN News Centre, UN calls for donors to back $700 million agricultural recovery plan, Jan. 29, 2010, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33619&Cr=haiti&Cr1 (last visited Feb. 1, 2010). However while this plan spans eighteen months, there is an immediate need for $32 million "to buy seeds, tools and fertilizers so Haitian farmers can start planting in March." Adriana Brasileiro, UN Group Urges $700 Million Investment in Haitian Agriculture, Jan. 29, 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=at_vFIabEsso (last visited Feb. 1, 2010). Dr. Diuff, director-general of the FAO stated, "to prevent this urban disaster [from] becoming a rural tragedy… it is crucial that we save the upcoming planting season," UN News Centre, Post-quake recovery in Haiti begins with farmers, UN agency says, Jan. 21, 2010, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33543&Cr=haiti&Cr1 (last visited Feb. 1, 2010).

Other short-term measures in the FAO plan include: repairing a major sugar refinery, protecting watersheds, steps to ensure reforestation, the reconstruction and reinforcement of collapsed riverbanks and damaged irrigation channels, and the rehabilitation of 600 kilometers of roads. UN News Centre, UN calls for donors to back $700 million agricultural recovery plan, Jan. 29, 2010, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33619&Cr=haiti&Cr1= (last visited Feb. 1, 2010).