HAITI: Indispensable food aid is hurting local production in Haiti

Record ID: 735839

  • Title: HAITI: Indispensable food aid is hurting local production in Haiti
  • Date: 12th March 2010
  • Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 10, 2010) (REUTERS) RICE BAGS DROPPING FROM TRUCK DELIVERING BAGS WITH 25 KILOGRAMS OF RICE QUEUE IN FRONT OF TRUCK MEN HANDING OVER BAGS FROM BACK OF TRUCK, PEOPLE QUEUING TWO MEN WALKING AWAY CARRYING BAG OF RICE WITH US FLAG ON IT THREE WOMEN WITH ONE BAG, TWO PULLING AND ONE PUSHING WOMEN SITTING ON TOP OF RICE BAG WITH US FLAG POND
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Economic News
  • Reuters ID: LVA9SC4R69TFMVBXCV152OVHB8IU
  • Story Text: According to Haiti's food safety agency, 52 percent of the population living in areas destroyed by the January 12 earthquake are lacking basic food. In these conditions food aid is indispensable. But it is also hurting local production and the government calls for a decrease in the amount distributed freely before the next harvest and would like to see non-governmental agencies buying the surplus of Haitian rice.
    This is a daily scene on the streets of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince: since the January 12 earthquake, rice bags are being distributed freely to the needy.
    On Wednesday (March 9), the non-governmental organization World Vision provided some temporary relief by distributing 1,600 rice bags of 25 kilograms each.
    The beneficiaries were people living in a nearby tent camp. Before the distribution, the NGO said it visited the camp and assessed each family's need before giving them a ticket to claim the free rice.
    Even prior to the disaster, the United Nations estimated 1.8 million people in Haiti were ''food insecure''.
    The quake left more than one million Haitians homeless and displaced and the situation has become even worse.
    The World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that two million people are now requiring food assistance.
    Since the earthquake, WFP said it has distributed more than 20,000 cubic meters of rice. It plans to distribute 104,360 tons of food at a cost of USD 176 million in the six months until June 12.
    While the aid is welcome by the many who lost everything, it is also hurting local production.
    Rice is the staple of Haitian food and most of Haitian rice is produced in the region of Artibonit, in the north of the country.
    Here, producers can't sell their stocks.
    Manine Kenol, the owner of a large rice plantation, said the government should stop importing rice into the country.
    ''These days, we are working but we do not know why we are working. We are cultivating rice but we are not selling it. If the President could do something for us, he should stop importing things so that we could sell our rice,'' Kenol said.
    Kenol said things need to get better for him and his workers.
    ''We are all the sons of this country, things need to get better for them. You have to give a chance to our rice so that our situation can improve,'' Kenol said.
    The Haitian government is aware of the problem.
    Pierre Gary Mathieu, the head of Haiti National Food Safety Agency (CNSA), said food aid agencies should buy the surplus of rice produced locally.
    ''In Artibonit we estimated the current stock of rice, of local rice, produced locally, to be 8,000 tons. We can't sell the production. Food aid can be found easily and we understand, it's free. So the government would like to see the food aid agencies buying local products to redistribute those products to create some kind of incentive for the Haitian farmers,'' Mathieu said.
    Mathieu is also calling for funds to develop the agricultural sector and provide farmers with new equipment and fertilizer.
    From the sellers in Port-au-Prince's central market to the importers whose business have been damaged by the closure of the harbour, the whole sector is under threat.
    Mathieu said the aid should now start decreasing so that the rice sector finds some balance again.
    ''People came with goodwill. We can't tell them: no, don't distribute. That's why we gave them a calendar for the distribution, stating what need to be done from the first to the third month, and then from the third to the sixth month how the aid should decrease to prevent damaging the growth of our agriculture,'' Mathieu said.
    On the streets of Port-au-Prince, the only thing that matters is that the rice is free.
    While the needy say they enjoy the Haitian rice, they are not ready to pay for it.
    ''It's on the market. It's on market but we have to pay for it,'' Anne Onnette said on the side of the rice distribution.
    Yvon Ciceron said Haitian producers should give their rice for free too.
    ''We take what we can. We take what we can because we don't have anything. The people from Artibonit don't give it away, Haitian people don't give it for free, Haitians do measure by the pound,'' Ciceron said.
    This is one of the many challenges the Haitian government and the international community are facing in Haiti.
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