Project Name：Torbeck Rice Production and Marketing Project (Haiti)

Project status：Completed projects

Cooperating Country：Caribbean, Haiti

Project Description：In 2008, increasing commodity prices throughout Haiti gave rise to food insecurity, which, in turn, led to civil unrest, with Les Cayes and Torbeck at the center of the first wave of unrest. In response to the requirements of the government of Haiti, this project will address food insecurity by increasing Haiti’s self-sufficiency rate for grain production in and around Torbeck.

Overall, this project will:

1. Promote rice production: Enhance rice cultivation technologies, improve water conservancy facilities, train farmers’ groups and improve post-harvest processing and marketing etc., in order to improve the self-sufficiency rate for rice production in southern departments.
2. Mechanize contract farming operations: Promote the mechanization of agricultural practices and improve operational efficiency.
3. Water and irrigation: Maintain and repair water conservancy facilities and provide farmers with improved irrigation facilities.
4. Rice marketing: Enhance local cultivation techniques and rice production, and establish rice production and marketing groups to enhance the added value of the rice.

Project No：TCD-2010-G01

Implementation Start Date：2009-05-15

Implementation End Date：2013-12-31

Project Objectives：

The objectives of this project are:

1. Enhance the livelihoods of participating farmers in Torbeck district by raising incomes, promoting rice milling operations, etc. Over three years, the project is expected to assist farmers to raise production yields by 75-133 percent, increasing harvests by 31,500 tons and raising output by US$4,680,000.
1. Promote rice production and extend areas under cultivation by 600 hectares during each phase of the project to 3,000 hectares, implementing this process twice for a total of 6,000 hectares.
2. Cooperate in the planning of paddy irrigation and cultivation techniques; organize 12 rice paddy management and pest management workshops and six field observation activities for the benefit of 900 participants.
3. Work with Haitian counterparts to gather data and promote the use of fertilizers among farmers’ organizations, as well as contract farming and good tilling practices; analyze upland rice and food cultivation, generating six promotional strategies for subsequent phases of the project.
4. Establish demonstration paddies over 3 hectares so that farmers can observe best practices such as the use of fertilizers and row spacing.
2. Establish an agricultural machinery team:
1. Utilize farm machinery to implement and manage work by contract farmers over a scheduled contract farming area of 1,200 hectares.
2. Establish an agricultural machinery maintenance system in cooperation with, and at, the Pont Sande agricultural materials supply center; provide training to 10 traction machine operators.
3. Water and irrigation:
1. Perform surveys in the Torbeck region, including Ravine du Sud, Saint-Thomas and L’Acul, to gather data on rivers; adjust irrigation facilities in accordance with such data.
2. In accordance with agricultural requirements, propose a renovation and engineering plan, including methods and budgets, and implement repairs to irrigation and water facilities over 7 km of channels.
3. Continue to maintain irrigation and drainage waterways over 50 kilometers to facilitate soil drainage throughout Torbeck district, as well as maintain emergency channels, to safeguard the stability of water supplies across the reclamation area and ensure that rice paddies drain sufficiently well.
4. Maintain two public rice milling factories.
4. Rice marketing: Establish production and marketing systems and establish basic rice storage facilities at which to store rice produced locally across Torbeck; produce and sell 1,200 tons of rice per year.
5. Complete project handover activities.

Executing Agency：

1. Haitian working groups affiliated to the Torbeck Rice Production and Marketing Project
2. Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources Development (MARNDR)
3. Konsey Teknik Agrikilte (KOTA)
   

Project Performance：

1. Extended rice production over 6,000 hectares, yielding 3.5 tons per hectare; improved the production capacity of beneficiary farmers by between 75 percent and 133 percent.

2. Performed contract farming over 500 hectares.

3. Completed the maintenance and repair of irrigation facilities.

4. Acquired 1,000 tons of rice for marketing.

5. Increased the income of beneficiary farmers from between 75 percent to 133 percent, increasing production value to US$4.68 million.