UN project in Haiti boosts, diversifies local agricultural production, officials say

A United Nations-backed project is helping local communities in north-eastern Haiti to increase and diversify their agricultural production and reducing poverty in the process, officials involved in the initiative have said.

“This local governance experience showed that micro projects can have a real impact on the living conditions of vulnerable communities,” said Joël Boutroue, a UNDP official working in Haiti.

Jointly carried out by the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the main goal of the scheme is to help some 200,000 Haitians as part of overall efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of anti-poverty targets established at a 2000 UN Summit.

The beneficiaries of the project include residents who now have access to essential basic services that they were long lacking, such as drinkable water, health-care centres, and a better flow of local commodities thanks to rehabilitated roads, according to a UNDP press release. Schools and agricultural facilities were also provided.

Commercial benefits included improved pineapple and sugar cane production as well as the introduction of new varieties of mangoes and citrus fruits, the agency said.

Mr. Boutroue said the $5.5 million project, which was launched in 2000 and will run through 2010, demonstrated the importance of involving local communities in identifying priority concerns. He called this “a clear indication of their capacity to take charge of themselves” in development activities.

Chantal Santelli of the Capital Development Fund said the main challenge is “to be able to mobilize the necessary resources to the set up of the systems of local infrastructures” while ensuring that scarce funds are optimized.