Our Terms & Conditions | Our Privacy Policy
Instead of having seeds that grow reliably, farmers face prizes that can only increase 40 or 50% of the time. This decreases not only their yield and their profit, but also decreases their ability to maintain their livelihoods.
The organization of food and agriculture (Fao) Works with the Ministry of Agriculture in Haiti to change this by locating the seed economy and the training of members of the banks of organized seeds called the artisanal seed production groups (GPA).
“We realized that most of the seeds were of dubious quality, that is to say that they were not adapted to certain climatic conditions … and as long as they are not well suited and are not of good quality, we will have a low production,” said a news, Pierrefrantz, a former farmer and one of the project leaders of FAO seed banks.
A Haiti / Daniel Dickinson
Haiti seed banks work to provide farmers with high quality seeds.
There are now more than 200 GPAs located in all Haiti, which cultivate high quality seeds to distribute to other farmers in order to increase farmers’ yields and reduce dependence on foreign seeds and food imports.
Especially today, these groups play an important role with more than half of the country faced with emergency food insecurity and with agricultural production threatened by armed violence due to the increase in the activity of gangs.
“GPA, providing quality seeds, contributes to improving agricultural productivity and food security in communities,” said Jacques.
A start in the middle of the disaster
About two thirds of the population of Haiti is based on agriculture for their livelihoods, most of them are small farmers. However, due to recent globalization forces, these farmers only produce 40% of Haiti’s food, creating an untenable food situation through which Haiti has become dependent on exports.
In recent decades, various FAO programs in Haiti have worked to support the production of seeds as an approach to reduce trade deficit. The GPAS program in particular was revitalized in 2010 following the catastrophic earthquake 7.0 which devastated Haiti and its agricultural sector.
FAO strives to distribute high quality seeds in Haiti to stabilize the production of crops.
During this humanitarian crisis and while helping to provide emergency assistance, FAO has exceeded the immediacy of the crisis and began to consider what it would mean to rebuild the agricultural sector.
“Immediately, we must have humanitarian aid resources dedicated to resilience activities. You must prepare yourself later from the start, ”said Pierre Vauthier, representative of FAO in Haiti.
In 2010, this meant recognized that seed systems in Haiti were insufficient, many farmers dependent on external sources and low -quality permeating varieties on the formal and informal market.
From emergency to resilience
This is where the GPAs arrived, giving them first generation of high generation (basic seeds) with which their businesses relaunch. The groups were also trained in best practices of culture, harvesting and financial management.
Although this training is based on scientific research and technological advances, it also aims to deploy local knowledge of ecosystems.
In this vein, in the end, it is the GPAS farmers who choose the varieties of seeds they want to cultivate, with a lot of choice of local species which are already well suited to the environment and already part of the local agricultural traditions.
“Farmers and residents are experiencing their environment, all the peculiarities. They know the type of soil, the type of climate. And this knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation, ”said Jacques.
Climatic shocks tormented the agricultural sector of Haiti.
In addition, FAO strives to provide seed banks with silos and other tools for appropriate storage. This is particularly important during climatic shocks, allowing farmers to better protect actions despite extreme weather events.
“We can consider seeds as an adaptation tool that allows farmers to continue to cultivate crops even during extreme conditions,” said Jacques.
In the end, a program like GPAS is at the heart of what FAO does, said Mr. Vauthier – Yes, FAO facilitates humanitarian assistance, but their true expertise lies in what comes after, in the creation of autonomous communities.
“Resilience can make communities of dignity. This may make your brain think in a very different way, not as assisted but as someone who takes control of his own life, “said Vauthier.
A seed count
Haiti faces an prolonged crisis – 1.3 million displaced people, nearly six million in the face of emergency food insecurity, imminent climatic shocks for which the country is poorly prepared and armed violence that brutalized communities.
In this context, it may be hard to believe that a seed count. But for the FAO, the change must sometimes be small, to be locally durable before being exported to the whole country. These changes may not be revolutionary, said Vauthier, but they work and they do.
The seed banks are almost the same, according to Mr. Jacques.
“What is happening is that farmers depend less on other human beings. They are able to produce their own seeds … They will help strengthen autonomy and food security, “he said.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.
Aggregated From –
Comments are closed.