Friday at Pont Sondé in the Artibonite, President Jovenel Moïse accompanied by Carmel André Béliard, the Minister of Agriculture and several parliamentarians of the department whose Senator Youri Latortue, met farmers and owners of rice mill in the local the Organization for the Development of Artibonite (ODVA), before proceeding to the delivery of 40 brand-new TakaYama brand rice mills, originating from Taiwan, with a unit value of $13,000.

This is a first batch of mills that replace the old mills defective or in poor condition, obsolete and inefficient. Due to the problem of equipment, 30% of the rice harvest was lost, thanks to these modern mills able to shell 800 kg to 1,200 kg of rice, this problem will be solved.

Of the 253 owners of mills in the area, OVDA officials selected by lot, 40 spread over 7 communes to benefit from this first delivery.

The owners did not have to make an initial payment and they will reimburse the cooperative over a period of 3 years at 0% interest explained the Head of State, who encouraged the owners to respect their repayment commitments underlining "It's your regularity that will allow other agricultural entrepreneurs to also obtain machines wit credit."

The owners do not yet know the amount of each payment for the refund, but it should be specified this week and the date of the first payment. A delay of approximately 4 months will be granted before the first payment while the equipment is being installed with the support of the Ministry and the training of the owners and staff on the operation and maintenance of these mills.

In addition to the mills, the Head of State handed over to the coordinator of the project for strengthening rice production in the valley, an ODVA structure the keys to 29 motorcycles for the Organization's technicians who supervise farmers.

SL/ HaitiLibre