UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Government

Name of Ministry/Agency:	Department of State

Country:	United States of America

Name of Focal Point:	Hiram Larew

Initiative Title:	Enlisting Economic Opportunities in the Fight Against Hillside Erosion in Haiti

Internet links:	http://www.usaid.gov/ht/economicgrowth.htm

Scope:	Regional: - Latin America and the Caribbean

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: End:

Lead Institution:	U.S. Agency for International Development

Stakeholders/Partners:	Haitian farmers

Relevent issues:	- Food security and sustainable agriculture - Enhancing agricultural productivity through adequate and sustainable inputs - Community-based and indigenous approaches to food production - Diversifying agricultural production systems - Community-based programmes for efficient land use - Soil fertility improvement practices - Capacity building

Objectives/Challenges:

Over the past seven years, the Hillside Agriculture Program (HAP) aimed to serve Haiti's poorest farmers, of whom approximately 70 percent work on severely eroded hillsides. To make hillside farming sustainable, one must grow suitable crops and use the correct techniques. This USAID-funded program was designed to increase farmer productivity and raise incomes by promoting environmentally friendly tree crops with export cash potential. HAP intervened in strategic production areas in order to provide intensive and quality supports to progressive and model farmers. An important component was the Coffee Rehabilitation project, which helped coffee farmers cultivate, process, and market “Haitian Bleu” gourmet coffee at premium export prices.

The program focused on the following areas:

• Production and marketing of traditional export crops (coffee, cocoa, and mango)

• Technical and financial support to the Haitian Federation of Coffee Grower's to increase their coffee production and export capacity

• Replication of successful production activities to other prime agricultural areas of the country

Lessons Learned:

Sustainable agriculture approaches can increase both farmer income and improve soil conservation. Technical assistance improved sustainable production, post-harvest processing, and market access for targeted crops. Although this project successfully introduced new strategies to increase hillside farmer incomes in Haiti, it did not use a “value chain framework” to address constraints and opportunities. A targeted value chain approach for future work might identify additional opportunities for increased productivity and market linkages.

Summary:

Key Results:

HAP, which ended last year, reached over 40,000 farmers. A 22 percent increase occurred in average revenues generated by targeted project crops. Below are some illustrative program accomplishments:

• Three mango producers groups and three exporters were certified as organic. As a result, these mango exporters shipped over 6,000 boxes of certified organic mangoes to new U.S. buyers, with a 25 percent price premium over the regular farm gate prices.

• Market linkages were established on the world specialty coffee market between Haitian producers and U.S. roasters of Haitian Bleu coffee.

• Production of high value vegetable crops in the agricultural areas of the Plain of Gonaives and La Vallée of Trois Rivières, allowed participating farmers to increase their revenue significantly.

Next Steps: USAID and Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture have worked collaboratively to design and implement new agriculture and environment programs. These programs will examine targeted value chains to increase productivity, take advantage of international markets, and revive opportunities for rural livelihoods.