As part of a series of exchanges with citizens held this week at the Karibe Convention Center, Thomas Jacques, Minister of Agriculture, emphasized on the various achievements of the government, including in the fight against extreme poverty from 32 to 24% and food insecurity.

In his presentation, the Minister explained that the roadmap given to the Ministry of Agriculture in its Triennial Agricultural Recovery Programme (PTRA2013-2016) is based on four major pillars : support for family farming; strengthening agriculture for commercial purposes; the development of agricultural infrastructure and watershed development; institutional strengthening and governance of the agricultural sector.

He said that in accordance with these different priorities, considerable support was provided this year for crop, winter and spring: about 21,000 tonnes of fertilizer, 1,011 tonnes of seed, 8,800,000 "minisets" of yams, banana suckers and potato cuttings and 18.068 vouchers (for purchase of inputs and other agricultural services) were provided to producers across the country, which allowed farmers to cultivate their land without difficulty.

Livestock, another strategic pillar of the national production, received sustained attention from the Government citing the increased production of eggs which has increased from 20 million units in 2012 to 54,000,000 in 2014.

In addition, the ministry will also improve livestock with improved breeds and more efficient cattle and goats: 1,320 goats distributed to farmers, including a system of revolving credit with 300 goats and 20 cattle for 150 families was set up in Cité Soleil.

In addition, new dairies were inaugurated in Côtes-de-Fer, Thomazeau, Gonaïves, Petite Rivière de Nippes, Plaisance and Torbeck.

Regarding agriculture axis for commercial purposes, the Minister stressed the signing of MoUs from January to September 2014, with several private sector companies. For more than $129M, with projections to create more than 7,000 permanent jobs and 15,000 temporary jobs.

Finally, in terms of agricultural infrastructure and watershed management for the year 2013-2014, the Mnistry intervened on more than 22 irrigated areas. 50 tractors, 51 power tillers and 30 teams have been made ​​available to farmers and about 200 km of rural roads have been rehabilitated or constructed.

The Minister Jacques revealed that the agricultural sector had performed well during the year 2012/2013 with growth of 4.5%. Stressing that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had recovered its against post-earthquake-performance (2010-2012) and exceeded the GDP in 2009, a normal year, noting that it was the highest level of agricultural GDP growth in the last 5 years and the second in 10 years.

HL/ HaitiLibre