Tuesday, the Chamber of Commerce Haitian-American (AmCham) and the Embassy of the United States in Haiti organized a forum to reflect on the potential of the agricultural sector in Haiti and also propose initiatives aiming production at larger scale.

The forum aimed to bring together the various stakeholders in the agricultural sector to see how Haiti can benefit from its potential in the field of agriculture.

The Embassy of the United States and AmCham said they were happy to bring together some of the key partners in this collaborative spirit because agricultural large scale production is one of the fastest tools for job creation.

"The sector offers significant opportunities, particularly in processing industries of mango, cocoa and corn. Last year, Haiti has successfully organized its first agricultural free trade area and 3,000 farmers are now employees from this investment. Investors and donors, agronomists and policy makers, cooperative organizers in agriculture and farmers must continue to work together and strengthen the sector, " indicated the ambassador of US in Haiti Peter Mulrean, adding that "the biggest challenge is always to take what works on a small scale and expand it on a large scale to ensure the quality and quantity of production. In order to sell to the general market, it is necessary that producers get together to produce in large quantities and with very good quality."

The Ambassador recalled that the United States is working with financial institutions to provide loan guarantees that have allowed so far to 56,000 Haitian businesses in rural areas to finance their farming activities; also as part of a project with farmers in the North and West departments, 5.5 million fruit tree seeds, cocoa etc... were planted.

Recall that the US government supports these efforts by multiple assistance programs ranging from the portfolio of economic growth of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) evaluating to $ 360 million which includes a support to a wide range of actors in agricultural value chains, until the work done by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to help Haitian agricultural companies to export to the United States. Through this work, the USA support the capacity of Haiti to create jobs and become at the level of agriculture and economically independent.

S/ HaitiLibre