Agricultural and Agroforestry Technological Innovation Programme (PITAG)

The Agricultural and Agroforestry Technological Innovation Programme (PITAG) will help restore agricultural productivity in the areas of Haiti most affected by Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

Haiti's rural population suffers from a vicious cycle of low agricultural productivity, high environmental degradation and poor nutrition. The project aims to break this cycle and help smallholder farming families improve their productivity, food security and income levels. To address these challenges, PITAG will equip Haitian smallholder farmers with agricultural technologies and practices that are well suited to local conditions.

In recent decades, the Caribbean island has seen its soils, water reservoirs and woods severely degraded. PITAG will enable smallholder farmers to produce more and better while taking care of the environment – something desperately needed in a country that is both one of the world’s poorest and one of the most greatly impacted by climate change.

IFAD’s contribution to the project, which started with support from the Inter-American Development Bank and the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, will allow PITAG to expand its outreach into eight additional “communes” (municipalities) in the South Department, an area badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew.

PITAG takes a people-centred approach, with a strong focus on community involvement. The new technologies and practices will be put in place through farmer field schools – a method of learning that involves peer-to-peer teaching programmes. After their training, small farmers will receive inputs and support to put into practice the innovations they have learned.