Tuesday, March 5, Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, met Thomas Jacques, Minister of Agriculture, which presented his three year strategic plan for revitalization of the Haitian agriculture sector.

The visit is part of Minister Jacques’ weeklong trip to the United States to meet with various U.S. government agencies and other U.S. organizations about Haitian ministry priorities. Minister Jacques is traveling with a delegation that includes Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture members as part of the Trilateral Initiative, U.S.-Brazil-Haiti, on Cooperation.

Secretary Vilsack and Minister Jacques discussed food security and topics on trade. The minister also received a presentation on United States Department of Agriculture - USDA’s market information systems capacity building in Haiti.

USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service currently has several food aid projects in Haiti that are funded by the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition and the Food for Progress programs.

Two ongoing McGovern-Dole projects in Haiti are supporting a nationwide school feeding program that includes rehabilitating schools, training teachers and school administrators, developing school gardens and providing take-home rations for children. USDA has donated commodities such as milled rice, pinto beans and vegetable oil to support the project.

The Food for Progress program is building Haiti’s trade capacity in food safety standards and improving farmers’ access to credit through microcredit lending activities.

Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) is also working with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help strengthen Haiti’s agricultural ministry’s ability to deliver essential services to farmers.

HL/ HaitiLibre