FAO statement at the ECOSOC Special Meeting 'Saving lives: addressing the urgent food security needs of Haiti'

Roundtable on 'Building Food Systems Resilience'

Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we have heard much about the political instability, increasing violence and unprecedented levels of insecurity and its impact on food security in Haiti.

We should also remember that Haiti is one of the countries that is most affected by natural disasters and climate extremes, including earthquakes, cyclones, floods and droughts, and the resilience capacity of the most vulnerable people is eroded at every disaster, increasing their vulnerability.

More than any other place, Haiti should benefit from a strong and robust Humanitarian - Development - Peace nexus approach.

There is an old saying that “Teaching People how to fish is always better than just giving people fish”. Evidence shows that emergency agricultural interventions/livelihood assistance are more cost-effective and impactful, but unfortunately are under-estimated and underfunded.

In the short term, we must urgently scale up international support to help restore peace, stability and security to the people of Haiti, and also to scale up immediate humanitarian assistance, particularly emergency livelihoods assistance.

As part of the Humanitarian Response Plan, FAO requires 62 million USD to assist 700,000 people, with staple food and vegetable production support and protection of livestock assets and production restoration. As of today, FAO has mobilized just 5%.

In the medium and long term, transforming agri-food systems in Haiti to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient, sustainable, is the key to achieving food security in the country. For this purpose, FAO’s Hand in Hand Initiative, a tool designed to accelerate the transformation process and build resilience, is being implemented in Haiti.

Given that Haiti has good agro-ecological conditions, the transformation can be achieved by improving local production and productivity, promoting sustainable and climate-smart agricultural practices, developing agricultural value chains, linking farmers to markets, scaling up investments and financing, upgrading agricultural infrastructure, generating more decent job opportunities and incomes. Boosting rural development and poverty alleviation is key.

Linking humanitarian response with long-term action on food security requires coherent, coordinated and effective collaboration between humanitarian actors, development agencies, and other stakeholders.

In a nut shell, there are many things to be done, but first and foremost, peace is a precondition of food security. And what Haiti needs most right now, is an end to the violence.

Thank you.