WFP Will Assist 1 Million Hungry Haitians Hit By Three-Year Drought
An estimated 3.6 million people, or one-third of Haiti’s population, face food insecurity. This number includes more than 1.5 million who are severely food insecure and do not know where their next meal is coming from, according to an assessment by WFP and the National Coordination for Food Security.
“We must immediately help hungry Haitians. Drought and poverty should not force a child to go to bed hungry,” said WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, ending a three-day visit to Haiti where she met communities hit by drought and El Niño.
The assessment found that the main 2015 spring harvest was below average, with almost three-quarters of farmers reporting they had lost more than 82 percent of production. For the 2016 spring season, 65 percent of families said they could not plant due to a lack of agricultural inputs. A scarcity of locally produced food has led to price hikes of up to 60 percent.
“We can help save lives and livelihoods now. We must work with the government, local communities and other partners, on longer-term asset development and climate smart agriculture programmes,” Cousin said. “Poor Haitian farmers living in vulnerable places must have the capacity to endure future climate-related disasters. Working together we will begin building a future with zero hunger.”
WFP initially responded with food distributions in Haiti for a two-month period to 120,000 people. With the new emergency operation this week, WFP will assist the 1 million people as Haiti enters the lean season from March to June when food stocks from the previous year run out.
Some 700,000 people in Haiti will receive cash transfers, which will provide the poorest and most vulnerable with the ability to purchase food while at the same time strengthening local economies. Another 300,000 people will be given a mix of cash transfers and food.
In a second phase, 200,000 people will receive food to work on watershed management and soil conservation projects, creating assets to help communities to plant small vegetable gardens. WFP plans to assist pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children with a specialized blended cereal fortified with vitamins and minerals to prevent malnutrition.
While addressing the drought, WFP also aims to maintain the level of assistance to a school meals programme that today represents the country’s largest food-based safety net. WFP school meals support government efforts to establish a Haitian-owned programme by 2030.
In coordination with the National School Meals Programme, WFP delivers daily hot meals to 485,000 schoolchildren in over 1,700 schools in nine of Haiti’s 10 departments until the end of April. Unless new donations are received, the programme will only reach 320,000 children as of May.
However, WFP cannot perform any of this work in Haiti without additional contributions. WFP needs US$72 million for its drought-relief emergency operation from April to September as well as US$7 million to maintain the level of school meals until the end of the next school year.
WFP is grateful so far for a confirmed contribution to the new Haiti emergency operation from the European Commission and a pledged contribution from the United States.
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WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.
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A selection of photographs from Haiti are available for download at this link.
For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Alejandro Lopez-Chicheri, WFP/Latin America and the Caribbean, Mob. +507 66715355
Jane Howard, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 65132321, Mob. +39 346 7600521
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474
Bettina Luescher, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. + 41-79-842-8057
Gerald Bourke, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-5566909, Mob. +1-646 525 9982
