FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf Friday expressed alarm at the lack of support for Haitis immediate agricultural needs.
– At a time when Haiti is facing a major food crisis we are alarmed at the lack of support to the agricultural component of the (United Nation’s) Flash Appeal, Diouf said.
He spoke at a high-level meeting to coordinate Rome-based FAOs efforts on behalf of Haiti’s medium and long-term recovery.
ALT FOR FÅ MIDLER
FAO has called for $23 million (knap 125 millioner d. kr.) for Haiti’s immediate agricultural needs.
– But only 8 percent of this sum has so far been funded, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said.
– The economic and social reconstruction of Haiti requires a revival of food production and massive investment in rural areas, he said.
INGEN TID AT SPILDE
Right now, he continued, the immediate priority is support for the farm season that begins in March and accounts for more than 60 percent of the country’s food production.
FAO has already started to distribute seeds, fertilizer and tools to enable Haitian farmers to plant for the next harvest.
Planted now, horticultural produce would be ready in only three months to provide beneficiaries and their communities with nutritious food for several months.
PÅ DET LANGE SIGT
Looking further ahead, Mr. Diouf noted that a multidisciplinary team of FAO’s top experts is about to leave Rome for Haiti to help the Agriculture Ministry formulate a medium and long-term agricultural recovery programme.
– The Republic of Haiti will be requiring massive sustained international assistance for a long period in order to dramatically reduce hunger and poverty, he declared.
