São Paulo – The secretary of Food and Nutritional Safety, Crispim Moreira, from the Ministry for Social Development and Hunger Alleviation, should arrive in Haiti on Monday (9) to present two Brazilian programs, one for solutions for access to water resources and another for purchase of food for populations in a situation of lack of food and nutritional security.
According to information disclosed by a spokesperson for the ministry, the Brazilian target is to support the government of Haiti in the elaboration of a public policy for supply to poor rural families in the case of access to drinking water and food. "We believe that the proposals for cooperation between our countries should benefit large numbers of families in the interior and in cities," said Crispim, in a press statement.
The technical mission should go on up to Friday (6) and is coordinated by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), under the Foreign Ministry. It is the result of a trip by Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Haiti, in May 2008. Ever since the agreement for technical cooperation, signed at the time with president René Préval, both countries have been exchanging missions to verify the need for implementation of Cistern Programs and the Program for Purchase of Food for Family Farming (PAA).
Cisterns, which are popular technology for assistance for rural populations to have access to water, consist of the construction of cylindrical tanks, made out of plates of concrete and covered or partly dug into the ground, allowing for the collection and storage of rainwater that flows off the roofs of houses. The Brazilian project has a capacity for 16,000 litres of water, enough to supply a family of five for the entire drought, which may last for up to eight months.
The other Brazilian program consists of the purchase of food directly from small farmers so that they may be turned to populations in a situation of lack of food safety. The PAA also guarantees social inclusion in the country through the strengthening of family farming. In Brazil, the program acquires food, with no need for tenders and for reference prices that may be no higher or lower than those practiced in regional markets.
According to Moreira, both programs are those that adapt best to the reality of Haiti, which has 8.9 million inhabitants, of which most depend on subsistence farming. Apart from that, almost half of the population is illiterate and over two thirds has no formal job. The country is in the 146th position in human development index.
*Translated by Mark Ament
