Port-au-Prince, 18 August 2022 (TDI): The Country Representative of the World Food Programme (WFP), Jean-Martin Bauer, updated on Haiti’s food security challenges on Thursday.
In an interview with the Chief Editor of UN Brief, Maya Plentz, he explained Haiti’s food insecurity problems. Moreover, he also explained WFP’s work in Haiti to address these problems.
WFP in Haiti: The Road to Food Security
Interview with Jean-Martin Bauer, @WFP_Haiti Country Director, where we discussed his career with the @WFP and the challenges the country faces in food securityhttps://t.co/DGTBmsVdAB pic.twitter.com/U9BMp2A6Uc
— The UN Brief (@MayaPlentz) August 17, 2022
Briefing on the Country’s geography:
Jean-Martin Bauer said that most of the problems Haiti faces are because of the extreme weather events (hurricanes) and natural disasters (earthquakes) it experiences. He remembered the earthquake in 2010 when 102 United Nations staff members lost their lives.
During the 35-second-long tremor, about 220,000 people died, 300,000 people got injured, and 1.5 million became homeless. He also recalled the recent 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Haiti on 14 August 2021.
Moreover, he explained that Haiti is geographically in a position that makes it extremely vulnerable to seismic vagaries and unpredictability.
He said the country sits on a geologic fault that is part of a seismically active zone between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.
Goals in Haiti:
Jean-Martin explained the time when he previously served in Congo. He said that he led the WFP program in Congo to substitute imported rice with cassava flour.
The procedure developed a production system to purchase cassava from smallholder farmers. Ultimately, it also generated more jobs by creating a manufacturing plant to transform the root vegetable into flour in Congo.
The Country Representative said that his mission in Haiti also aimed at the same thing. He said Haiti also imports 90% of the rice it consumes, bringing numerous problems. Therefore, he explained that WFP is trying to support local farmers and look at the region’s basic food staples and vegetables.
The Representative explained that Haiti did not always depend on other states for food. He explained that in the 90s, Haiti was food self-sufficient, and this is what WFP in Haiti is trying to achieve.
Haiti’s Situation:
The 2021 Country Report of Haiti explained that the humanitarian situation in Haiti has worsened. It has one of the world’s highest levels of chronic food insecurity. More than half of its population is chronically food insecure, and 22 percent of children are chronically malnourished.
Poverty in the country is profound, which is evidenced by poor social outcomes for literacy, life expectancy, infant and maternal mortality, and gender inequality.
One-quarter of the population lives below the extreme poverty line, especially in rural areas. Agricultural livelihoods have underperformed due to land degradation, inappropriate agricultural practices, under-investments, and weather-related shocks.
WFP in Haiti:
The World Food Programme (WFP) has been working in Haiti since 1969. It works with the Government to build sustainable systems to address the root causes of food insecurity and promote resilience.
Haiti has one of the highest levels of food insecurity in the world. However, WFP’s work in Haiti has greatly helped the country address its food security problems. It has started a school feeding program, considered the largest food safety net in the country.
Every school day, WFP delivers meals to 300,000 children across more than 1,000 schools. The program is funded by many international donors too.
Our #ThankYouThursday you goes out to our Schoolfeeding Program donors.@CanadaDev, @EduCannotWait, @ambafranceht, @USDA
Thanks to you, 3⃣5⃣8⃣,0⃣0⃣0⃣schoolchildren in the 10 departments in #Haiti received a healthy and nutritious meal every day this past school year. pic.twitter.com/BXet8Sbf0G
— WFP Haiti (PAM) 🕊️ (@WFP_Haiti) August 11, 2022
Moreover, it is helping in revitalizing the agriculture sector as a means of tackling food insecurity. WFP launched a Home-Grown School Feeding program that uses exclusively local products from smallholder farmers. An average of 800 metric tons of food annually is bought by WFP to support national agriculture.
WFP aid to Government:
Furthermore, WFP supports the government in developing policies promoting food security and nutrition. Recently, WFP supported the Government in updating the National Policy and Strategy for Food Sovereignty, Security, and Nutrition. Currently, it is facilitating the development of the National Social Protection Policy.
WFP has also been working with the Government to develop a national database to better identify and register vulnerable households (SIMAST) since 2014. Consequently, it has provided emergency food assistance to more than 150,000 people affected by prolonged drought and the deterioration of the economic situation since 2018.
