#CPAF15 WS3: Strengthening the Agriculture/Nutrition Nexus-Country rapid scan study: The Case of Haiti (Predner Duvivier, Ph.D., Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) , Barbados)

Strengthening the Agriculture/Nutrition Nexus-
Country rapid scan study: The Case of Haiti
Predner Duvivier, Ph.D.
The Technical Centre for
Agricultural and Rural
Cooperation (CTA)
Faculté d’Agronomie et de
Médecine Vétérinaire
(FAMV)
BARBADOS, 2 NOV 2015
1

OBJECTIVES
– Share Learned lessons to formulate
better directives leading to improved
Food and nutrition security (FNS)
outcomes and to
– Identify entry points for strengthening
agriculture nutrition nexus
3

METHODOLOGY
To collect information, 27 institutions related to the subject were
selected for a survey, including :
– 5 Ministries :
Agriculture, Public Health, Social Affairs and Work, Trade and
Industry, Women Condition and Women Wright
– 6 Universities:
UEH, Univ. Quisqueya, Univ. Episcopale, Univ. Caraibes, Univ.
Notre Dame, U. Laval (Project in Haiti)
– 8 International organizations:
UNICEF, PNUD, IICA, FAO, BID, UE, USAID, PAM
4

METHODOLOGY (CONT.)
– 2 women organizations :
FANM YO LA, Solidarite Fanm Ayisyen (SOFA)
– 1 local organization:
Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP)
– 5 ONGs:
ASSODLO, PRODEVA, CONCERTACTION, MFK, OXFAM AMERICA
Focus groups were realized with NGOs interventions
beneficiaries
5

METHODOLOGY (CONT.)
• Literature review to complete the information
• Collected information (from survey and literature
review) was analyzed for consistency and
complementarity, and then synthesized
• Survey and literature review were oriented to find
answers to 24 key questions
• Answers are given in following section
• A national workshop was conducted for validation
6

7
1) Main characteristics of the agrifood system in Haiti
RESULTS & DISCUSSION

– Population and agriculture
• Population: 10.5 millions, of which 60% practice agriculture
• Share of agriculture in GDP: 25%
• Small size farm : 0.62 ha in average
• Pressure on agricultural lands
• Limited access to irrigation water : 10% of farmers
• Limited access to inputs (good quality seeds, fertilizers, and
pesticides): 30% of farmers
8
RESULTS & DISCUSSION (CONT.)

• Low performance of crops and livestock
• Lack of infrastructures (storage, transportation, processing)
• High postharvest losses (up to 35%)
• Main crops:
– Cereal : rice (Oryza sativa), maize (Zea mays), and sorghum
(Sorghum vulgare)
– Legumes : common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), and pigeon
pea (Cajanus cajan);
– Roots and tubers : yams (Dioscorea sp.), yucca (Manihot
esculentus) , sweet potato (Ipomea batatas), and potato
(Solanus tuberosum L.);
9
- Population and agriculture

– Plantain (Musa sapientum) and bananas (Musa paradisiaca),
– Fruits : mangos (Mangifera indica), avocado (Persea americana),
and citrus (Citrus sp), etc.
– Vegetables : cabbage ( ), chile (Capsicum sp), oignon (Allium
cepa), carot (Daucus carota), and egg plant (Solanum
melongena)
– With 1 770 km of coastlines, 22 000 ha of interior water and
approximately 3% of the population practicing fishery, Haiti
produces 16 000 t sea food /year, of which 400 t from
aquaculture.
10
- Population and agriculture

2) Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) situation
• In 2001, FAO reported that half of the population lived in
extreme poverty and did not have access to the minimum ration
225 kg of cereal equivalent.
• According to CNSA (2011), based on food consumption, 17% of
the households were in food insecurity
• Only 30% of the population eats adequately 3 meals a day.
• About 59% eats 2 meals a day.
• The rest (11%) eat less than 2 meals a day; This category is
considered as vulnerable and needs immediate assistance
11
Food consumption, Number of meals per day

• About 70% of the population experiment hunger (severe hunger
for 20% and moderate hunger for 50%).
• Based on food diversity, 77% of the population are in non-
satisfactory condition.
• Based on the four above mentioned criteria, 38% of the
population are in food insecurity (CNSA, 2011).
• In 2015, the number of people in food insecurity in the country is
about 3 millions.
12
- Hunger and food diversity, Overall food insecurity

• 23% of the under five children suffer global chronic malnutrition
• 7% are affected by severe chronic malnutrition
• 4% are affected by global acute malnutrition
• 1% are affected by severe acute malnutrition
• Anemia affects 50% of pregnant and nursing women and 70% of
under five children
• Iodine deficiency affects 70% of 6 to 12 month-age infants
13
- Nutrition situation

• Haiti produce approximately 55% of the food it needs to nourish
its population and food imports represent 51 % of the needs.
• These data show a mismatch between the local food production
and the food needs.
14
3) Adequation between the agrifood system and FNS
situation

• If everyone had equal economic access to food, we could do
without food aid with a positive balance of 6%.
• However, food aid turns around 3% and reached 8% in 2010,
after the earthquake.
• Besides limited access to food, food consumption may be also
affected by cultural, religious, health and stigma factors.
15
situation

Despite its relatively small size, Haiti gets diverse agro ecological
conditions:
• Dry plains, irrigated plains, tropical semi humid and humid
mountains, and humid plateaus.
• This agro ecological diversity is suitable for diversified food
production : cattle and fishery, cereal, legumes, roots and
tubers, plantains and bananas, fruits and vegetables, etc.
• However, 77% of the population are in non-satisfactory
conditions for diversity of food consumption.
• This mismatch between diversity of food production and
diversity of food consumption suggests the idea of a problem of
nutrition education 16
situation

4) Institutions addressing food security issues in Haiti
• Ministry of agriculture is the main institution addressing food
security issues in the country.
• Via its structures, in particular, the National Coordination of
Food Security (CNSA), it elaborates and implements related
policies and programs. CNSA also establishes and operates the
National Observatory of Food Security.
• Ministry of agriculture works in collaboration with several
governmental institutions, in particular, the Direction of
Nutrition of the Ministry of Public Health and Population
(MSPP) for the nutritional aspects
17

• Other institutions addressing food security issues include
MENFP, MCI, MPCE, MEF, MAST et MDE.
• For harmony in their actions, the stakeholders meet around a
structure called « Table of concertation ».
• Inside the Ministry of agriculture, the units meet around a
structure called « Sectorial Table ».
• To the above mentioned institutions, should be added the
office of the Prime Minister which coordinates the
government actions.
18

• International organizations (including WFP, IDB, WB, EU, AFD,
USAID, FAO, UNDP, UNICEF, IICA) act as donors.
• NGOs are also involved in implementation of projects linked to
FNS defined by the government
• Activities of NGOs should be coordinated by MPCE.
• Presently, 164 NGOs have government agreement and many of
them implement projects linked to agriculture, and FNS
• Universities implement research projects linked to Ag and FNS
• They also provide services such as lab analysis and studies
19

• Seven papers published between 1996 and 2015, surveyed in
the study, contain policies addressing agricultural and food and
nutrition security issues.
• Programs and projects are implemented in relation with set
policies.
• These policies, programs and projects aim to guarantee:
economic growth, reduction of poverty, food sovereignty, food
and nutrition security.
20
5) Agriculture and food and nutrition security policies

I. PNSAN (1996). National Plan of Food and Nutrition Security
(PNSAN, in French) was elaborated in 1996 and updated in
2010 by CNSA and CISA.
Objective: cut by half the number of people suffering food
insecurity in agreement with the objectives of the millennium
(ODM) adopted in 2000.
II. DSNCRP (2007). Document of National Strategy for Economic
Growth and Poverty Reduction in Haiti (DSNCRP, in French) was
elaborated by the government (MPCE, 2007).
Objectives are: boost the economic growth and reduce the poverty.
21

III. PNIA (2010). National Plan of Agricultural Investment (PNIA).
Objectives: development of the rural infrastructures (watershed
protection and irrigation), value chains, agricultural services and
institutional support.
IV. PSDH (2012). Strategic Plan for the Development of Haiti
(PSDH).
Objectives: economic growth, reduction of poverty, enforcement
of the medium class, social justice and security (MPCE, 2012).
22

V. PNN (2012). MSPP elaborated the national policy of nutrition
(PNN) in January 2012.
Objective: improve nutrition and health status of the population,
in particular nutrition and health status of pregnant women,
nursing women, and under five-children considered as
vulnerable groups.
VI. PTRA (2013). Triennial program of agricultural recovery (PTRA)
2013-2016.
Objective: Contribute to the improvement of food security and
economic growth in Haiti.
23

VII. PNSSANH (2015). National Policy of Food Sovereignty and Food
and Nutrition Security in Haiti (PNSSANH, in French).
Objectives: Stabilization of the food supply, Reduction of the
vulnerability of the populations, Improvement of the food
distribution system, and Transfer of ressources.
24

Some projects and programs examples :
• Gouvernment initiatives:
- Program of improvement of food security in Haiti (PASAH)
- Project of food security in Haiti (SECAL) in Artibonite, Ouest
and Sud);
- Program of subvention of fertilizers;
- National Program of school meals (PNCS);
- Program of subvention of seeds.
25
6) Programs and projects linked to agriculture-nutrition nexus in
Haiti

• Non governmental initiatives
– Project feed the future (Ouest, Artibonite, Centre)
– Project avanse (Nord)
– Project AKOSAA (Université Laval) in Artibonite, Saint-Marc
– Project SRI (Oxfam-America) in Artibonite, 4 communes
– Project Agritrans (Nord-Est)
26
Haiti

• Some programs offer incentives to beneficiaries, particularly in
agriculture. Targeted beneficiaries are end consumers, but
incentives go to farmers.
• In nutrition programs, some projects target under 5 children,
pregnant women, nursing women together with their kids, or
HIV- SIDA affected people.
27
Haiti

Priority interventions for improving FNS outcomes focus on
increase of the national agricultural production and the growers
incomes.
28
7) Priority interventions for improving FNS outcomes in
the country/ community

8) Nutrition education
• Direction of nutrition (DN) of MSPP is in charge of nutrition
education.
• local organizations (MPP), international organizations (UNICEF), and
NGOs (MFK) also participate in nutritional education of the people.
• Universities also teach nutrition courses
• A private school of nutrition functions in Port-au-Prince
• Existing nutrition education services are open to every body (boys
and girls, men and women); pregnant women and nursing women
are targeted in priority. The initiatives are not enough.
• Usually, cultural aspects are not considered in nutrition education.
30

• Changes in dietary patterns have occurred during the past
years.
• Changes are not necessarily documented and monitored.
• For ex., in the past, Haitian people consumed more maize,
sorghum, and root and tubers than rice and spaghetti. Today
and since the middle of the year 1986, people eat more rice
than maize, sorghum, and root and tubers.
31
8) Changes in dietary patterns

9) Role of women organizations
• Women are the main deciders in purchasing foods and food
distribution, but men are the main deciders in agricultural
production and generating incomes.
• Women are individually present in production, marketing,
processing and preparing food.
• Women's organizations are active in social and political
matters, but they are not involved in policies, programs and
projects addressing agriculture and food and nutrition
security issues.
• They can get involved and play an important role, but, may
be, they need to be motivated on these issues and trained in
this field. 32

• Key messages on agriculture and nutrition are communicated
orally from mouth to ears in meeting by agricultural extension
agents and health personal, respectively..
• For important issues such as new pest attacks, new illness
transmitted to people via a food, besides meetings, posters
affixed in public spaces, TV, radio emissions, quotidian
journals, diffuse the information.
33
10) Communication of messages on agriculture and
nutrition

11) Existing models/best practices that benefit
smallholder farmers
• This question was not clearly and completely answered during
the survey. However, surveyees think that a land use reform
including a farm consolidation is necessary to increase
investment and production capacities of small farmers as well
as their incomes.
• They think that putting the farmers in well organized, oriented
and trained associations operating on large size farms would
be beneficial. The case of Taiwan was mentioned as a
potential model.
• Nutrition education is an issue to address.
34

12) Best practices for building multi-stakeholder, multi-
disciplinary, intersectoral, and inter-ministerial
cooperation and partnerships for
Food insecurity is a transversal issue. It is not only a problem of
the agricultural sector. All the sectors and all the ministries need
to cooperate to address it.
Moreover, the problem of food insecurity in Haiti is not only a
question of food availability because the food balance is usually
positive (5.6% in 2005, 15% in 2007, and 13.72% in 2010). It is
also a problem of economic access.
35

12) Best practices for building multi-stakeholder, multi-
disciplinary, intersectoral, and inter-ministerial
cooperation and partnerships for
A large consensus for building a multi-stakeholder, multi-
disciplinary, intersectoral, and inter-ministerial cooperation and
partnerships for improving FNS outcomes at national level is
necessary.
In Haiti, a platform involving different ministries exists, and the
actors meet around a table of concertation. It seems that their
actions are good, but not enough. They need to scale up.
36

CONCLUSION
• Many institutions work in Food and Nutrition security area in
Haiti. There are policies, programs and , and projects.
• Some projects get good results, but the food insecurity and
malnutrition levels are high.
• The interventions are sound, but too limited to have
substantial impacts a national level. They need to scale up.
37

Potential entry points could include projects of:
1. Nutrition education (primary school can be used as a channel
to reach kids parents)
2. Promotion of home food production (jaden lakou) and
diversification of food production and consumption
3. Extension of irrigated areas to increase farmers’ access to
irrigation water
4. Increasing farmers’ access to agricultural access (seeds,
fertilizers, and pesticides)
5. Promotion of agricultural research, education and extension
In all cases, nutrition data should be collected and monitored as
impact indicators
38
CONCLUSION

• Women’s organizations are not involved in
food and nutrition security activities. They
may play an important role, and then, they
need to be motivated, trained and to get
involved.
• Any initiative aiming to increase local food
production for food sovereignty, increase
household incomes, or improve nutrition
education would be sound.
39
CONCLUSION

• Land use reform including farm consolidation and
organization of farmers in association
• Reinforcement of Cooperation for better impacts on food and
nutrition security. Agriculture and food issues have been too
long considered as regarding peasants and agronomists.
40
CONCLUSION

Contexte agro écologique et
socioéconomique de l’etude
• PIB: 7.34 milliards US dollars en 2011 (Banque
mondiale, 2012)
• PIB per capita : 725 US dollars.
• Principale source d’energie pour l’eclairage:
kerosene (63%) ;
• Principale source d’energie pour cuisson: bois
et charbon de bois (96%).
42

Pauvrete
• Chomage: environ 40%
• Pauvrete extreme (vivant avec <1 USD/jour):
56%
• Pauvrete moderee (vivant avec <2 USD/jour):
19%
• Depenses pour l’alimentation: 65% du revenu
43

Sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle
en Haïti en 2011 (CNSA, 2011)
44

II.- Specific Objectives
– Identifying agriculture nutrition nexus in Haiti by agri-
food system and Food and nutrition security (FNS)
outcomes analysis
– Identifying main institutions and governance structures
addressing food and nutrition security issues in Haiti
– Identifying major policies related to agriculture and food
and nutrition security in Haiti
– Conducting a gap analysis for identifying entry points for
strengthening ag/nutrition nexus
45

#CPAF15 WS3: Strengthening the Agriculture/Nutrition Nexus-Country rapid scan study: The Case of Haiti (Predner Duvivier, Ph.D., Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) , Barbados)

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Similar to #CPAF15 WS3: Strengthening the Agriculture/Nutrition Nexus-Country rapid scan study: The Case of Haiti (Predner Duvivier, Ph.D., Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) , Barbados)

Similar to #CPAF15 WS3: Strengthening the Agriculture/Nutrition Nexus-Country rapid scan study: The Case of Haiti (Predner Duvivier, Ph.D., Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) , Barbados) (20)

More from Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA)

More from Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA) (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

#CPAF15 WS3: Strengthening the Agriculture/Nutrition Nexus-Country rapid scan study: The Case of Haiti (Predner Duvivier, Ph.D., Faculté d’Agronomie et de Médecine Vétérinaire (FAMV) , Barbados)