Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


UN: Agriculture Key to Haitian Recovery

   Margaret Besheer | The United Nations 10 February 2010
   Haitians  build  flood-control  trenches on mountain slopes as part of
   project  sponsored  by  the World Food Program and International Labor
   Organization in Gonaives, (File)

Photo: AP

   Haitians  build  flood-control  trenches on mountain slopes as part of
   project  sponsored  by  the World Food Program and International Labor
   Organization in Gonaives, (File)

   The  U.N.'s  agricultural  agency warns that if Haiti's crucial spring
   planting   season   is  missed,  the  country  will  be  dependent  on
   international  food  aid  for  a  much  longer  period of time.  Seed,
   fertilizer and equipment are urgently needed before that window closes
   in April.
   food  situation  was already fragile in Haiti well before last month's
   earthquake,  with  the  country  importing  more  than half its cereal
   needs.   In  2008, tropical storms tore through the Artibonite Valley,
   the region of the country known as Haiti's bread basket. That year was
   also marked by deadly food riots that brought the government down.
   And  now  the  food  supply  is  threatened  again  in the wake of the
   devastating  earthquake  that killed more than 200,000 people and left
   more than a million others homeless.
   The  U.N.  Food  and  Agriculture Organization is warning that farmers
   must  be  able to meet the spring planting season equipped with seeds,
   fertilizers,  livestock  feed  and  vaccines,  as well as agricultural
   tools,  saying  it  is  an  important  step in the country's long term
   recovery.
   FAO  Emergency  Response  Manager  Alexander Jones spoke with VOA from
   Haiti.
   "Haiti  has  two  main  agricultural  seasons - some areas also have a
   third  - but the main agricultural season, the spring season, requires
   planting  between  late  March  and  early  April," said Jones.  "That
   season produces 60 percent of all the crops in the country. If we miss
   that season, we will be dependent on food aid for a much longer time,"
   he said.
   Jones  said  that if the spring season is missed, farmers will have to
   wait  for  crops  from  the  summer planting season which would not be
   harvested until January or February 2011.
   More  than  half  of  Haiti's 9 million residents live in rural areas.
   Although  farming  accounts for only a little more than a third of the
   GDP,  it  is  the country's single largest employer, providing work to
   about 60 percent of the population.
   The  United Nations has asked for $562 million in emergency assistance
   for  Haiti  for  six  months.  Of  that, FAO asked for $23 million for
   agricultural  projects,  but  only about seven percent of that funding
   has been pledged or received.
   Next  week,  the  U.N.  is  expected  to  revise  that appeal based on
   post-disaster  assessments  to  include  needs for the next 12 months.
   FAO's  Jones said his agency and other agricultural NGOs would ask for
   a total of about $60 million to see them through the year.

.