Haiti: Impact of Hurrican Matthew and FAO response to emergency

Hurricane Matthew struck in October during Haiti’s second main harvest time, causing losses to agriculture of $580 million and striking a major blow to the country’s food security. Family farming – a primary food source for most Haitians – took an especially heavy blow in the hurricane that wiped out 90 percent of the country’s harvest.The latest food security assessment conducted just after the hurricane showed that some 1.4 million people are in need of food assistance. Out of this number, more than 800 000 people are in urgent need of food aid and some 600 000 base their livelihood exclusively on agriculture. In the heaviest-hit areas -- including Grand’Anse, parts of Nippes, and Sud departments -- over 75 percent of the population is struggling with the effects of the hurricane, as livelihoods based on agriculture, livestock and fisheries were almost completely destroyed.
To address both immediate and long-term food needs, FAO is collaborating with the World Food Programme (WFP), which provide food aid to the same families that receive FAO emergency seeds as planting materials. This ensures farming families can use the seeds distributed for growing vegetables to recover their livelihoods and feed their communities in the months to come.
Last week, in the presence of minister Pierre Guito Laurore, FAO has begun distributing emergency supplies to some 22 500 people in Marfranc, one of the hardest-hit parts of Grand’Anse department. These communities received 15 tonnes of seeds that will produce an estimated 75 tonnes of green beans and 90 tonnes of lima beans for hurricane-affected families. These short-cycle crops are ideal in emergencies as they provide food quickly. In an effort to reboot sweet potato production, farming communities will further benefit from the distribution of over 2.2 million sweet potato cuttings for planting in the winter growing season.
FAO will also distribute fishing equipment, such as fishing lines and hooks, engines and gear, to fishers who have lost their livelihoods in the hurricane.
For more info: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/456668/icode/

1. Various of camera-car along the shore with destroyed palm trees and shacks
2. SOT: Martine Acao, Farmer (Creole):
We don’t have any resources. We count on FAO for giving us the means to plant, to reconstruct, to plant and to restore our vegetable gardens.
3. People in line for seed distribution
4. Seed distribution
5. SOT: Eric Pierre Pasteur, President of producer’s Association of Voldrogue (APAS) (Creole) :
FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture have given us the heart to start again. The distribution of black and Lima beans’ seeds, will allow us to take advantage of the winter cropping season,
especially because the rains have come on time.
6. Various of seed distribution
7. Mother with child
8. Detail of seeds
9. Various shots of beach with torn down trees
10. Various of fishermen
11. SOT: Inesse Seide, Fish vendor and President of AMPOS (Association de Marchandes de Poissons de Port Salut) (Creole):
After the passage of Hurricane Matthew, we lost everything, our refrigerators, storage places and equipment for storing fish. We asked for a loan to finance our fish selling activity and now we are not able to pay it off. We work together with fishermen, who are also great difficulties, to resume and revive our activity. The FAO came to visit and promised its support in the next few days. We have faith in this promise and are convinced that this support will help us revive our activities.
12. Various of Port Salut town
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