Minister,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Colleagues and friends,

First let me thank our bilateral partners, the United States, Brazil and Haiti, for initiating this important meeting, exactly one month after the devastating earthquake on 12 January. I should also like to thank Josette Sheeran and her team for providing the venue and arranging the logistics.

I think we owe special thanks to all WFP staff. They have done an extraordinary job on the ground, delivering emergency food for the victims of the earthquake. In particular, by recruiting local women to the front line of the food distribution effort, they have ensured a well-coordinated and effective operation. Most importantly, through the involvement of these local women, aid has reached those who need it most.  

I should also like to express to Minister Joanas Gué IFAD’s deepest condolences over the tragic loss of more than 215,000 lives as a result of the catastrophe.

Please be assured of IFAD’s continuing support, solidarity and commitment as you embark on the long road of rebuilding your country. We will be with you every step of the way.

IFAD’s field mission

IFAD’s first step was to dispatch a joint IFAD-FAO field mission to the Dominican Republic last month to assess the impact of the earthquake on Haiti’s rural areas.

The mission, led by our Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Josefina Stubbs, met with Minister Gué, who was able to share with us Haiti’s special emergency programme in response to the earthquake. The mission also met IFAD-funded project staff based in Haiti as well as IFAD’s main partners there, including FAO, the French Development Agency, the IDB, IICA and WFP.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are neighbouring countries – indeed, sister countries – on the island of Hispaniola. The solidarity and response shown by the Government and the people of the Dominican Republic to their stricken neighbours after the earthquake is a clear reflection of this.

In recognition of that special relationship, our mission also took the opportunity of discussing with the Dominican Republic Ministers of Finance and Agriculture how to strengthen cooperation through IFAD projects on both sides of the border. We discussed the scope for exchange visits as well as training events for farmers and technicians from both countries.

Assessment of situation in rural areas

The mission confirmed what we had feared: that there had been serious damage to Haiti’s productive infrastructure in major agricultural areas in the southern parts of Haiti. The most affected areas include Gressier, Léogane, Petit-Goave and Grand-Goave in the West Department.

During our field mission, we were told about damage to rural houses; damage to potable water supplies; damage to irrigation systems; and damage to rural roads and storage facilities.

And we learnt of severe losses in seeds, agricultural tools and small animals, with dire consequences for the poor rural people whose livelihoods depend on farming.  

We also witnessed the ongoing mass migration of the now homeless residents of Port-au-Prince to their families and friends living in Haiti’s rural hinterland.

Preliminary estimates suggest more than 260,000 people have fled or are fleeing the destroyed capital, increasing the pressure on already meagre supplies of food and employment in the countryside. 

Even before the earthquake, Haiti’s rural communities were living in absolute poverty. The challenge they now face, in hosting their displaced compatriots, is daunting to say the least.

IFAD’s programme of work in Haiti

Daunting, but not impossible – provided the right support is in place.

For our part, for many years we have been working to sustainably improve Haitians’ incomes and food security. We do this by ensuring that rural grass-root organizations are active participants in our programmes. We focus on improving the access of small-scale producers to water resources, productive services, and markets. In doing so, IFAD’s work supports the implementation of the Government of Haiti’s medium-term plan.

IFAD’s country programme investments to date amount to US$52 million. They have contributed to grass-roots capacity building, as well as initiatives to improve production and improve poor rural people’s access to financial services, provided by microfinance organizations such as Fonkoze.

With assistance from IFAD’s multi-donor Financing Facility for Remittances, Fonkoze purchased satellite phones and diesel generators in 2007, and began delivering remittance services in rural areas of Haiti where basic infrastructure is often weak or lacking.

Only today is the true value of that investment coming to light. Fonkoze was back in operation just days after the earthquake. Remittances transferred through Fonkoze are free, giving recipient families in Haiti vital resources to meet short-term needs while also encouraging long-term development.

IFAD’s experience in providing support to Haiti following weather-related or natural disasters is not new. Less than two years ago, Haiti was devastated by four tropical storms that caused about US$220 million in damage to food crops – at a time when the population was also struggling to feed itself because of high world food prices. In response, IFAD funded a special project to kick-start food production.

As a consequence, the 2008 winter planting yielded US$5 million in bean crops, helping to improve both food security and the incomes of poor farmers.

IFAD’s response to earthquake

Disasters like last month’s earthquake are undoubtedly major setbacks in achieving increased food production. But they should not halt Haiti’s medium- and long-term development.

IFAD has already identified four areas where our support can help make a difference.

First, we are accelerating the implementation of existing projects in Haiti’s rural areas, representing an investment this year of US$12.5 million.

These projects focus on sustainable production, income and employment generation activities in the Departments of North-East, North-West and the Centre. They are implemented by the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture and the country’s Ministry of Finance through its executive agency FAES (Fonds d’Assistance Économique et Social).

Boosting Haiti’s production capacity is critically important, given that Haiti is a net food importer.

Haiti imports up to 60 per cent of the food it consumes and up to 80 per cent of its rice consumption.

So improving the productive capacity of Haiti’s mostly small-scale producers is crucial, not only because it contributes to national food security but also because it permits the creation of urgently needed jobs.

While humanitarian aid will have to continue for many more months, by raising domestic production, Haiti has a realistic chance of being able to overcome the present crisis and avert future food shortages.

Second, we have designed a US$3.2 million post-earthquake support programme for food  security and employment generation in the rural areas of south-western Haiti, which were most affected by the earthquake. The programme will be financed by two IFAD grants from different sources of funding, including a contribution of US$2 million by the Swedish government earmarked for Haiti.    

This grant programme will boost food production by restoring Haiti’s productive infrastructure as well as the supply of agricultural inputs.

And it will generate employment through labour-intensive activities in agricultural and environmental management activities, such as soil conservation, reforestation and forage crop planting.

It will reach 12,000 households, representing about 60,000 people, in the departments of West and Nippes. Nine thousand of these families were directly affected by the earthquake and three thousand represent migrant families from the capital who have lost their assets and their jobs. 

In other words, the programme will reach those areas most severely affected either by the earthquake or by the flow of urban migrants to the rural areas.

Third, in collaboration with FAO and with the agreement of the Government of Haiti, we will extend the IFAD-funded 2008 post-food crisis programme for the distribution of seeds and agricultural tools. This programme, amounting to US$10 million, will cover the needs of 15,000 rural households, representing 75,000 people. Importantly, it will help ensure that essential seeds and agricultural tools are available for the March and June planting seasons.

And fourth, during its annual Governing Council, IFAD will host a side event on 17 February to explore with its members their willingness to participate in financing the settlement of Haiti’s debt to IFAD. This is currently estimated at US$58 million and is expected to reach US$80 million over the life of active loans.

Through these programmes, IFAD will continue to pay special attention to the most vulnerable groups: women, female-headed households and young people.

Women in developing countries perform the vast majority of agricultural work, producing between 60 and 80 per cent of food crops. It is also the women who carry the main responsibility for meeting the food, water and fuel needs of their families. 

That is why IFAD is paying particular attention to advancing both women’s empowerment and their status in society – in Haiti and in the rest of the world.

Conclusion

Consistent with our mission to enable poor rural people to overcome poverty, IFAD’s sights will remain fixed on the medium- and long-term horizon.

Our efforts will remain targeted on sustainable food security and agricultural development – for this generation and the next.

Working in close collaboration with the Government of Haiti and our sister agencies here in Rome, FAO and WFP – and my colleagues have just announced the creation of a task force - I am confident that we can contribute to an effective and comprehensive response to Haiti’s desperate needs, so that Haiti can build a better tomorrow.

Haiti’s people are already on their feet, ready to rebuild their nation and their future.

As I said at the beginning, we will be with you every step of the way.

12 February 2010, Rome, Italy