National Yam Production (Dioscorea sp) covers nearly 30,000 hectares with a high concentration in the Grand Anse and pockets of productions in the Valley of Jacmel, Piacenza and Pilate. It made a spectacular increase over the last five years, to nearly 500,000 metric tonnes (mt) in 2013 against 344.500 mt in 2010, an increase of 45% over the period.

However, this increase in production, remains insufficient given the potential of yam and investment made by peasant producers.

The sector is characterized by problems in different segments including a lack of organization, lack of credit and agricultural research for this product, marketing difficulties, the problems of storage and processing and a insufficient consumption nationally. Producers are particularly affected by the limited availability of quality seeds, lack of technical packages that meet their specific needs (control of pests and diseases, fertility management) and poor access to lucrative market.

As part of the implementation of the Triennial Agricultural Recovery Programme (PTRA, 2013/2016), the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), via the Office of the Secretary of State for Agricultural recovery (SERA), Joseph Vernet and with the financial support of the Swiss Cooperation in Haiti, organized a workshop in Torbeck, from 4 to 6 September 2014.

More than 30 personalities from various regions and sectors at the national level took part, including producers, women's organizations, executives of technical and financial institutions, experts in yam. This workshop had aimed to lead to the development of a program to support the development of the value chain of yam which already can rely on the financial support of the Swiss Development Cooperation in the next five years or from 2015 to 2020.

In his introductory remarks, the Engineer-agronomist Vernet Joseph, noted that "recent studies of characterization of agricultural sectors have shown the importance of yams, and identified as one of the sectors to promote. Demand for yam has increased sharply in both domestic and international markets." He invited participants to indentify the real problems and stressed the need to have a fruitful discussion about the axes of research-action, of production, credit, processing and marketing considered as the pillars to give substance to a realistic and sustainable program "In the coming years, yams should be considered as well as the francisque mango, coffee and cocoa as an export commodity

to encourage foreign earnings capable of supporting the national economy. This initiative with yam will have to participate in the development and strengthening of the structure of commercial food crop supply chains."

At the end of the workshop, participants agreed that it was necessary to organize and structure the value chain of yams, assist producers, disseminate production techniques proven, environmentally friendly, transfer technologies and develop a framework to enable integration with other providers of services.

This workshop is part of a larger project, which should lead to the development by the Ministry of Agriculture, of a policy for the yam industry. By the end of October, the Ministry will organize the first days of yam to start promoting it.

HL/ HaitiLibre