Charles Jean-Jacques National Authorizing Officer of the European Development Fund (EDF), Carmel André Béliard, Minister of Agriculture, European Union Ambassador, Vincent Degert and Bénédicte Gazon, Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) signed an agreement for additional funding in the South Food Security Program (SECAL), amounting to 4 million euros to help post Matthew recovery.

Launched in 2012, the SECAL program was initially aimed at increasing the agricultural production of Les Cayes plain, notably through the renovation of irrigated perimeters, distribution of inputs and technical assistance to producers. This new envelope will make it possible to extend the action even in the hills, in order to reconstitute the means of production of the producers hard-hit by the passage of Hurricane Matthew, which caused the loss of their livestock or their exploitation.

This program, co-financed by AFD, is directly managed by the Ministry of Agriculture through the Departmental Directorate of Agriculture of the South (DDAS). It targets 2,000 farmers of the plain of Les Cayes and the surrounding mountains.

This financial package, which is part of the additional 30 million Euros mobilized by the European Union following the passage of Matthew in October 2016, will allow the SECAL program to be renewed for two years in order to improve food security and incomes of the rural population, still vulnerable more than 8 months after the hurricane.

HL/ HaitiLibre