As part of its policy of cooperation with the Republic of Haiti and to provide support to the initiatives of Haitian government in the reduction of food insecurity, the European Union through its Ambassador and Head of Delegation, Mr. Javier Pérez Niño and the Haitian State, through the National Authorising Officer of the European Development Fund, Mr. Jean Edner Nelson, the Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), Mr. Thomas Jacques, and the Minister of Public Health and Population (MSPP) Mrs. Florence Duperval Guillaume, have proceeded officially to the signature of the financing agreement of the program to improve food security in Haiti, amounting to 20 million euros.

Representatives of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and of the French Development Agency (AFD) have also signed with the European Union two agreements on the implementation of two components of the program to improve food availability through enhanced production systems, marketing and processing of local productions.

- A contribution agreement of 4 million euros between the European Union and FAO

- A delegation agreement for an amount of 5 million euro between the European Union and AFD

The funding agreement is part of the initiative established in 2010 by the European Union to accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In Haiti, the MDG initiative focuses on the first MDG : reduce by half between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

This program will thus allow to improve food security in the departments of Northwest, Northeast, Centre, Artibonite and South, by the quantitative and qualitative improvement of agricultural production and livestock, the promotion of marketing opportunities, strengthening entrepreneurship, and improving nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children.

This program, whose implementation will start in January 2013, reinforces the actions already initiated by the Haitian government in the improvement of food availability, access to healthy food and of quality and the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in the country.

HL/ HaitiLibre