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Since riots broke out in Haiti in
2008 as a result of the global food
price crisis, the government began
to pay attention to the issue of food
security. The Haitian government
proposed an agricultural cooperative
project to improve crop varieties and
rice seed production in hopes that
improving seed quality and cultivation
techniques would gradually lead to
an increase in agricultural production
levels.
The crop seeds used in Haiti—
rice, black beans, maize— are mostly
endemic varieties that have been
used for decades. Although these
varieties are acclimated to the local
climate, there is the risk that they
are infected with bacteria and weed
seeds, leading to varying quality.
This can, in fact, end up producing
irregular crops, resulting in worsening
yields as years go on, thereby
affecting earnings and quality of the
harvest.
Use Healthy Local Seeds and
Introduce NewVarieties
To solve this long-standing
problem, in addition to cooperating
w i t h t he Ha i t i an ag r i cu l t u r a l
experiment unit and assisting them
in capacity building, the project aims
to implement seed variety purification
and introduce high-quality seed
varieties. The main contents of the
project include:
1. Directly produce foundation seeds
from the Levy experiment field in
order to guarantee the quality of
upstream seeds. After harvest,
directly provide to seed farmers
in the agricultural
extension areas for
production.
2. G u i d e c o n t r a c t
farmers engaged
in the production of
foundation seeds and
use these seeds for
commercial paddy
rice production.
3. Purify local seeds
to maintain their quality crop
characteristics and select seeds
that meet market needs.
4. Regu l ar l y conduc t t ra i n i ng
activities, introduce advanced
concepts of farming techniques
and post-harvest processing to
farmers, and promote optimum
cultivation methods through open
competition.
Since its implementation in 2013,
the project's biggest innovation
this year was the introduction of
16 maize varieties developed by
the International Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and
a survey on their suitability for Haiti's
various climate and soil conditions.
Many of these varieties were
discovered to hold great promise for
raising seed quality levels.
In addition, with joint efforts of
Taiwan and Haitian technicians, new
cultivation techniques have also
gradually gained the trust of local
farmers. Not only did local yields
increase, farmers’ profits also rose. As
an example, traditional maize farmers
using the traditional growing method
with no fertilizers or pesticides and
without row spacing produced 800
kg of corn per hectare;
t h o s e w h o k n e w
how to timely apply
agricultural materials
produced about 1,800
kg pe r hec t a re . I n
contrast, farmers who
had received training
and were willing to
adhere to seasonal
planting schedules
and cultivation techniques saw
results far superior to the previous
two, significantly increasing yields
and producing 2,400 kg of corn per
hectare.
With the assistance of this project,
if Haiti can continue investing in
research and orient itself toward a
development goal of germplasm
collection, new seed variety selection,
and researching new cultivation
techniques, the country will effectively
safeguard local food security and
improve agricultural competitiveness.
983
Potential earnings per
hectare
US$
Haiti
Les Cayes Cereal Crops Development
Project
2
Case Study