Wednesday, August 19 in Jérémie, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Union will proceed to the launch of the Component-Haiti of project "Action against desertification to support the implementation of the National Action Plan in Fiji and Haiti, and South-South cooperation in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)."

This project of a duration of 48 months (August 2015 / February 2019), funded to the tune 2.2 million US dollars, aims to develop sustainable management models of natural resources, land management and support for family farming by prioritizing good agricultural practices, including the fight against soil erosion, the agro-forestry and the diversification of agricultural production, to increase farmers' income and enhance the role of fruit and forest trees in local agriculture.

The communes of Jérémie of Moron, of Dame-Marie, of Bonbon and Abricots, located in the Department of Grande Anse, were selected jointly by the Ministry of Environment (MdE) and FAO as sites of project intervention because of the level of land degradation and the impact of human activities.

This is a reinforcement of the project OSRO/HAI/403/UK "Resilience of farming households in the Grande Anse", funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID). Ultimately, the project aims to contribute to the reduction of poverty, elimination of hunger, and improving the resilience to climate change in fragile ecosystems selected in Haiti.

A triple approach will be used to ensure the achievement of objectives set, including: The participatory approach: participation of the beneficiaries is at the center of the action and the empowerment and accountability of the target groups to ensure the sustainability of project achievements; The integrated watershed management approach: better planning of land use by communities with an integrated approach and support of various technical sectors, sustainable land management through the techniques and approaches allowing to maintain and restore the biological resources, land, water and ecosystem services; The seed security approach: promotion of seed species and varieties adapted to the region and resilient to climate change and risk of natural disasters and enable farmers to insure themselves seed availability for normal sowing periods.

Recall that in Haiti, more than 50% of the territory, including slope areas (30 major watersheds or hydrological units currently very degraded) are subject to high risk of erosion and not less than 6% of the land (166.500 ha ) are currently suffering from irreversible erosion.

HL/ HaitiLibre