At the flagship event of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD14) focused on the future of rural economies in Latin America and the Caribbean—held in Panama City—agronomist Pierre-Richard René, Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development (MARNDR), presented Haiti’s vision for the sustainable transformation of the agricultural sector.

He outlined a vision for rural development centered on three key pillars : creating new economic opportunities for youth, accelerating digital transformation, and strengthening partnerships between public and private investment. In his address, he called for agriculture to become a genuine driver of job creation, innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment, particularly for the benefit of young people and women.

By way of introduction, he emphasized that the future of rural economies cannot be reduced merely to the issue of agricultural production. In his view, it is now essential to consider production, employment, entrepreneurship, innovation, financing, market access, and resilience simultaneously.

With this in mind, he advocated for an approach based on closer collaboration among the State, producers, rural organizations, financial institutions, the private sector, development partners, and innovation stakeholders. For Haiti, "this evolution must transform agriculture into a sector that generates income, decent green jobs, and new economic opportunities."

Agronomist René placed young people at the heart of his vision for rural development. In this context, he noted that the Ministry intends to support, among other things, the emergence of new agricultural enterprises. The project to promote and support agricultural start-ups plans to fund 36 innovative young enterprises during the 2026–2027 fiscal year, up from 11 in the previous year. Particular attention is also being paid to women and young people under the age of 35, who are expected to account for 60% of the targeted beneficiary enterprises.

He also devoted a significant portion of his remarks to the digital transformation of the agricultural sector. In his view, digital technology must first and foremost become an accessible tool serving producers. AgTech and FinTech solutions, in particular, could help facilitate access to market information, improve agricultural advisory services, enhance production monitoring, and bring producers closer to financial and production-related services. In Haiti, this approach includes the planned establishment of a national network of hydro-climatic monitoring stations, designed to improve forecasting, risk analysis, and decision-making within the agricultural and food sectors.

However, the Director General of the MARNDR emphasized the need to ensure that technology does not create new inequalities. Innovation must remain accessible to producers and adapted to rural realities. According to him, this entails simultaneously strengthening training, connectivity, institutional capacity, and the digital skills of rural youth, enabling them to become designers and providers of solutions tailored to their own environments.

At the same time, he called for a rethinking of the relationship between public and private investment. He believes the State must continue to play a pivotal role in creating the conditions necessary for the rural economy to function—specifically through infrastructure, irrigation, research, agricultural services, information, regulation, and risk management. However, René pointed out that public investment alone cannot meet all the sector's needs. He explained that the aim is to use public investment to alleviate certain structural constraints and create an environment favorable enough to attract producers, entrepreneurs, and private investors.

His remarks indicated that the Ministry plans, among other things, to strengthen more than 245 solidarity mutuals and to finance over 225 individual agricultural enterprises as well as more than 54 agricultural and agrifood SMEs. The goal is to foster financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, and to create or sustain jobs in rural areas.

At the same time, he called for a rethinking of the relationship between public and private investment. In his view, the State must continue to play a pivotal role in creating the conditions necessary for the rural economy to function—specifically through infrastructure, irrigation, research, agricultural services, information, regulation, and risk management.

However, René noted that public investment alone cannot meet all the sector's needs. The aim, he explained, is to use public investment to alleviate certain structural constraints and create an environment favorable enough to attract producers, entrepreneurs, and private investors.

His remarks indicated that the Ministry plans to strengthen more than 245 solidarity-based mutual groups and finance over 225 individual agricultural enterprises, as well as more than 54 agricultural and agrifood SMEs. The goal is to foster financial inclusion and entrepreneurship, and to create or sustain jobs in rural areas.

Concurrently, René, an agronomist by profession, stated that the Ministry intends to bolster storage, preservation, and processing infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses, improve product quality, and facilitate marketing. Planned investments include a storage capacity of 10,000 tonnes, alongside processing equipment and solar energy systems. Revitalizing the sugarcane sector and rehabilitating the Darbonne sugar mill are also part of this strategy to develop value chains.

In concluding his remarks, the Ministry’s Director General called for moving beyond an approach limited to financing agricultural projects, urging instead the creation of rural economic ecosystems capable of attracting investment on a sustainable basis. He is convinced that the future of rural economies will depend on the ability to place rural producers and entrepreneurs at the heart of investment. He also drew attention to the need to offer young people economic opportunities rather than mere assistance programs, to transform digital innovation into accessible services, and to strengthen partnerships between public authorities, the private sector, and rural communities.

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre