The Inter-American Development Bank announced the approval of a $25 million grant for a water management program in the Artibonite basin in Haiti. That grant will help Haiti decrease crop, livestock and infrastructure losses.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced the approval of a $25 million grant for a water management program in the Artibonite basin in Haiti. That grant will help Haiti decrease crop, livestock and infrastructure losses caused by flooding and at the same time increase its agricultural productivity.

The Artibonite basin is a strategic economic region for Haiti, representing 25% of its territory and accounting for 80% of the country’s rice production. In the Artibonite Valley downstream, the country’s largest irrigated district, the annual value of the agriculture production amounts to more than $57 million. But in the long run, the Valley faces serious challenges of erosion, flooding and in securing water for irrigation.

This water management program will therefore act in two areas: financing an adequate water and sediment management infrastructure and strengthening the current water resources governance framework. The program is expected to reduce by 80% the value of the annual agricultural damages and help increase by 30% the productivity of rice yield. This will benefit Haiti’s economy in general and the over 285,000 people living in the basin.

The total amount of the project is of $27.5 million of which the IDB will finance $25 million and the national counterpart up to $2.5 million.

HL/ HaitiLibre