FAO LAUNCHES APPEAL FOR $4 MILLION FOR HAITI

FAO launches appeal for $4 million for haiti

ROME, 10 March (FAO) – The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched a $4 million appeal for Haiti yesterday for urgent farming inputs to restore agricultural production and improve the food security of the households worst-affected by the current crisis.

The crisis has further degraded an agricultural sector already weakened by years of poverty, the FAO said.  The agricultural sector faces:

-- A lack of essential agricultural inputs;

-- A lack of fully functioning agricultural and veterinary services;

-- Difficulty in selling harvests and farmed goods due to damaged roads and a precarious security situation; and

-- Abandoned agricultural areas where people can no longer farm.

“Together all of these factors have plunged a large number of farming households into serious difficulty”, said Anne Bauer, Head of the FAO’s Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division.

Many farmers face the risk of being unable to sell their harvest and therefore to get the resources needed to afford essential foodstuffs such as oils, meat and beans.

Five Million in Rural Areas

Some 5 million of Haiti’s total population of 8 million live in rural areas.  The FAO estimates that 3 million of these are facing serious difficulties.  Before the recent crisis, almost half of the population was food insecure.

The FAO’s appeal will raise the funds to provide basic agricultural inputs including seeds and tools to 100,000 of the country’s most-affected households.

For more information, contact:  FAO Media Relations Office, e-mail:  media-office@fao.org, tel.:  (+39) 06 57053625.  FAO online newsroom: http://www.fao.org/newsroom/.

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