CORE Providing Long-Term Farming Success in Haiti

“If it weren’t for agriculture, I wouldn’t be able to help these displaced people who came to me here empty-handed and who have nothing in this community,”

-Edmond, a Haitian farmer

Today, Haiti faces not only an economic crisis but a hunger crisis as well. According to the World Food Program, over 5 million Haitians, nearly half of the population, face acute food insecurity, including hundreds of thousands of children. While CORE has worked on addressing food insecurity with World Central Kitchen to provide emergency food kits that gave families access to a month’s worth of food, we recognize that it’s only a temporary stopgap.

CORE has been in Haiti since the catastrophic earthquake struck in 2010. One of CORE’s main goals in Haiti is to empower people to ensure long-term self-reliant success and stability.

In that spirit, CORE, with funding from the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), has partnered with Acceso, an international organization that supports local agriculture efforts, to work with residents and farmers in the Nippes department in southern Haiti to bring about a sustainable economic revitalization. Through in-person farming education, which increases production capacity and minimizes post-harvest loss, we hope to achieve long-lasting generational transformation.

Edmond, a local farmer and a beneficiary of the program.

Edmond is just one of 1,200 farmers in five communities in Nippes who has received in-person training and one of hundreds who received seeds from Acceso and CORE.

Before becoming a farmer, Edmond worked in construction. But when COVID hit the country and gang activity surged, the price of concrete rose, and he found himself out of work. Since then, he has turned to farming to provide for himself and his family. However, as any good farmer knows, getting started and figuring out what works can be time-consuming, difficult, and, most importantly, costly – something that many farmers in Haiti cannot afford.

Acceso trained Edmond on best agricultural practices, gave him pea seeds, and assisted him in preparing his garden.

Edmond says, “In the training sessions, we learned how to plant peas and also how to prepare them, when to apply fertilizer, and how to apply it…In the past, I used to plant in a certain way that isn’t as efficient as the method Acceso has just taught us…it’s much more efficient.’’

With this program, Edmond has been able to harvest and sell his crops, which has allowed him to provide for his family.

“It’s a wonderful program; in our district, it is agriculture that ensures our children’s education. If we didn’t have agriculture, I don’t know in what condition we would be,’’ Edmond says.

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Beyond that, ongoing gang violence in Port-au-Prince has forced many to flee. Edmond has welcomed six friends and family from Port-au-Prince into his home, giving them refuge from the violence. If it weren’t for this program, Edmond doesn’t believe he would have been able to lend a hand.

“If it weren’t for agriculture, I wouldn’t be able to help these displaced people who came to me here empty-handed and who have nothing in this community,” Edmond says.

Fanise, a local farmer and a beneficiary of the program.

The program is also a lifeline for Fanise, a single mother of seven who lives in another community in the Nippes. She attends monthly trainings and receives leek seedlings and fertilizer. Through this program, she learns how to prepare the soil and seeds and when to add fertilizers during the season.

In addition to these helpful trainings, CORE and Acceso want to ensure these farmers’ long-term success. So, field technicians with Acceso regularly visit these farmers’ fields and perform assessments to give them tips and to reduce crop loss, leading to larger yields and income.

After this first year of programming, these new farmers look forward to the next growing season and continued economic prosperity. The results have been nothing short of life-changing for those involved in this program. Through education based on practical hands-on knowledge, hard-working Haitians are better equipped to provide for their families and uplift their entire community.

Please visit our programs page to learn more about CORE’s programs in Haiti.