IICA and the United States Department of Agriculture join efforts to rebuild the agricultural sector in Haiti
San Jose, Costa Rica, October 6 2010 (IICA). The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (FAS) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have signed an agreement designed to strengthen the Haitian agricultural sector by means of an ambitious training project.
IICA and the FAS will work closely with the Ministry of Agriculture (MARNDR) of Haiti to design and implement seminars on good agricultural practices and a technical assistance and training program for Ministry officials and private sector producers to enable them to contribute to the development and modernization of the national agricultural sector.
The FAS is to contribute US$250,000 for the implementation of the seminars and programs under the terms of the agreement.
Over the two-year life of the agreement, IICA and the MARNDR will design and implement seminars on topics such as rural extension, animal production, food safety, post-harvest management, fruit production, processing, soil conservation and watershed management. IICA will also be organizing two regional exchange programs for MARNDR and NGO staff members, who will receive training at universities in the Caribbean and elsewhere.
As a result of the agreement, the capabilities of MARNDR and NGO officials and private sector producers will be strengthened in areas that are vital for the development of Haiti’s agricultural sector, and cooperation will be enhanced between MARNDR officials and NGO representatives, working with small-scale producers.
“This is the type of cooperation that we are interested in offering to our Member States and to Haiti in particular,” said the Deputy Director General of IICA, Karen Lezny. The official pointed out that, following the January earthquake, under the leadership of the Minister of Agriculture, the Institute decided to focus on the search for short and medium-term solutions to the structural problems of Haitian agriculture.
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