At a workshop sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which was held recently in Port-au-Prince, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) officially launched an innovative technological project with 3 core components : cassava, beans, and soils.

According, Clair Hershey, leader of CIAT’s cassava program this project seeks to contribute to a Haitian Government program aimed at increasing farm productivity and incomes, improving nutrition and the livelihoods of smallholder families by providing them new market opportunities.

The workshop was attended by a total of 26 participants who represented agencies that are already project partners, such as Catholic Relief Services and Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture, as well as other agencies interested in participating in the project’s implementation, such as Laval University and an initiative called "Enhancing and Building Capacity for Increased Food Security in Haiti" (AKOSAA)

The project launch workshop, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), focused on three objectives : Identify and contact key partners in Haiti ; Present the project to those key partners and work with them on identifying research and training needs ; Identify key activities in beans, cassava, and soils in order to carry out the proposed interventions in Haiti, and at the same time, fill strategy and knowledge gaps. During the workshop, there was ample discussion of basic topics such as the challenges and opportunities that arise when attempting to support seed systems for Haitian food crops and the needs of farmers and crop production systems in Haiti’s Southern Department (state), among others.

During the first year of its implementation, the project will focus on activities such as :

• farmer participatory evaluations to determine the status of the technologies and varieties in use today ;

• training for researchers, extension agents, and farmers to strengthen their research and extension capacities ;

• a preliminary assessment of value chains ;

• introduction of high-yielding cassava and bean varieties with high nutritional value; and

• collecting and organizing soil profiles.

HL/ HaitiLibre