Instead of having seeds that sprout reliably, farmers fight with lots that can grow only 40 or 50 percent of the time. This not only decreases your performance and profits, but also decreases your ability to maintain your livelihoods.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is working with the Ministry of Agriculture in Haiti to change this locating the seed economy and the training of members of organized seed banks known as Groupements of Production Artisanale of the Sages (GPA).
“We realized that most of the seeds were of doubtful quality, that is, they did not adapt to certain climatic conditions … and whenever they are not well adapted and not of good quality, we will have a weak production,” we will count Pierrefral Jacques, a former farmer and one of the project managers of the FAO Seed Bank, told the news of the UN.
Seed banks in Haiti work to provide farmers high quality seeds.
There are now more than 200 GPA located throughout Haiti, which cultivate high quality seeds to distribute to other farmers with the aim of increasing the yields of farmers and reducing the dependence of foreign imports of seeds and food.
Especially today, these groups play an important role with more than half of the country that faces emergency food insecurity and with agricultural production threatened by armed violence due to the increase in gang activity.
“GPA, by providing quality seeds, contributes to the improvement of agricultural productivity and food security in communities,” Jacques said.
A beginning in the middle of the catastrophe
Around two thirds of the population of Haiti are based on agriculture for their livelihoods, most of them are small farmers. However, due to recent globalization forces, these farmers only produce 40 percent of Haiti’s food, creating an unsustainable food situation through which Haiti has become dependent on imports.
During the last decades, several FAO programs in Haiti have worked to support seed production as an approach to reduce the commercial deficit. The GPA program in particular was revitalized in 2010 after the catastrophic earthquake of 7.0 that devastated Haiti and its agricultural sector.
FAO works to distribute high quality seeds in Haiti to stabilize crop production.
During this humanitarian crisis and, while helping with the provision of emergency assistance, Fao looked beyond the immediacy of the crisis and began to consider what would mean reconstructing the agricultural sector.
“Immediately, we need to have humanitarian assistance resources dedicated to resilience activities. It must be prepared for later from the beginning,” said Pierre Vauthier, representative of the FAO in Haiti.
In 2010, this meant recognizing that seed systems in Haiti were insufficient, and many farmers depend on external sources and low quality varieties that permeate the formal and informal market.
Emergency resilience
This is where the GPA arrived, giving them high -quality seeds of first generation (base shows) with which to boost their companies. The groups were also trained in the best practices for cultivation, harvest and financial management.
While this training depends on scientific research and technological advances, it also seeks to implement local knowledge of ecosystems.
In this sense, ultimately, it is the Farmers of the GPA that choose the varieties of seeds they wish to cultivate, and many choose local species that are already well adapted to the environment and that are already part of local agricultural traditions.
“Farmers and locals know their surroundings, all particularities. They know the type of soil, the type of climate. And this knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation,” Jacques said.
Climate clashes have affected the agricultural sector of Haiti.
In addition, FAO works to provide silos seed banks and other tools to practice adequate storage. This is particularly important during climatic shocks, which allows farmers to better protect stocks despite extreme climatic events.
“We can consider seeds as an adaptation tool that allows farmers to continue cultivating crops even during extreme conditions,” Jacques said.
Ultimately, a program like GPas is in the heart of what FAO does, said Mr. Vauthier: Yes, FAO facilitates humanitarian assistance, but its true experience lies in what comes next, in the creation of self -sufficient communities.
“Resilience can return dignity to communities. It can make your brain think in a very different way, not as assisted but as someone who takes control of their own life,” said Mr. Vauthier.
A seed matters
Haiti faces a prolonged crisis: 1.3 million displaced people, almost six million who face emergency food insecurity, imminent climatic clashes for which the country is poorly prepared and armed violence that is brutalizing communities.
In this context, it may be difficult to believe that a seed matters. But for FAO, sometimes the change must be small, to be locally sustainable before exporting it to the whole country. These changes may not be revolutionaries, said Vauthier, but they work and last.
Seed benches are very equal, according to Mr. Jacques.
“What happens is that farmers depend less on other human beings. They are able to produce their own seeds … they will contribute to reinforce autonomy and food security,” he said.