Action Plan for National Recovery and Development of Haiti 2010-2015.

This Sectoral Action Plan for National Recovery and Development is the country s long-term vision for development 2010-2030. It is based on four major areas of work for rebuilding of Haiti. The sectoral actions are brought together according to the themes of regional, economic, social and institutional reconstruction. The specific action plans for each field are organised in the following way: Territorial reconstruction of devastated areas and urban infrastructures, preparation for the hurricane season, regional planning and local development under the control of the Haitian Interim Reconstruction Commission (HIRC). Economic re-launch of national production, access to electricity. Social sector (health, food safety, nutrition, water and sanitation). Democratic institutional rebuilding, justice and security (pag. 10). Section 4(3.6) deals with healthcare, food security/nutrition, water and sanitation. The government is planning to implement a safety net directed at vulnerable households living in food insecurity in the areas affected by the earthquake, in particular for children under five and pregnant or breast-feeding women benefit from food supplies (pag. 38).
Agriculture remains the most important sector in terms of the number of jobs in Haiti: it accounts for more than 50% of the workforce. It is one of the pillars of the country s stability, an essential axis of the sustainable development. Haiti uses about 80% of its export earnings just to pay for food imports. There is less food security, which makes the country and the population in general very vulnerable to natural disasters and just as vulnerable to fluctuations in the price of basic commodities on international markets. Some agricultural practices and farming choices motivated by the dynamics of market prices lead to a reduction in wooded land, which increase erosion, reducing the quality of the soil and of coastal fishing zones, raising the rate and scale of flooding, which regularly destroys facilities and transport infrastructure, leading also to a significant loss of agricultural land (pag. 22).
The plan s main objectives are: increasing the agricultural food production, by making agricultural inputs available in and by improving distribution channels, defining strategies to integrate displaced persons, improving access to food by increasing the circulation of money through job creation in rural areas, integration of national production and food aid, preparing for the next hurricane season with a wider perspective. Five programmes are planned: 1 providing funding to purchase and distribute agricultural inputs, equipment and tractors to farmers, as well as tools and fishing equipment for fishers in order to increase productivity. 2 providing funding to dig catchment ponds and build irrigation networks for water management, vital to increase productivity on farms. 3 providing funding for building rural roads to open up agricultural remote areas, benefiting also fishers and the population in general. 4 providing funding for the recapitalisation of farms by giving producers access to credit at reasonable rates. It will also fund the processing of products that cannot be sold fresh, and raise farmers income. 5 providing funding for improving the slaughtering and preservation of animals and aquatic products, guaranteeing the quality of products and increase the profits (pags. 23 and 24). The so-called cross-cutting themes: gender equality, youth and disabled persons will be dealt within each of the plans presented. Thus the chapters relating to the reducing the vulnerability of populations, health and the social protection network target in particular women, children and disabled persons. The theme of the environment runs throughout all the interventions in farming, development of watersheds and regional development (pag. 10). With a view to mitigating the negative effects of the disaster on the living standards of the population, particularly women, who make up the majority of the informal economy, it is necessary to engage in massive job creation programmes as soon as possible. These programmes should be directed not only at stricken areas but also at areas accommodating displaced persons and, more generally, the whole of the territory under the principle of equity, in order to avoid further population displacements (pag. 32).
The National Plan addresses the commitment and capacity for disaster and crisis risk management for agriculture, food and nutrition. There are specific and moderate provisions on prevention, mitigation and preparedness with response and transition to develop in post-disaster phases, to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the possibility of disaster steps to support food and nutrition security. An early warning system and the creation of a decentralised foodstuff storage network will constitute an effective resource in the event of a disaster (pag. 38). the experience of recent catastrophic events calls for the implementation of rigorous crisis management mechanisms. Risk management must be examined as per the following principle axes: Civil protection will be reinforced with: training, equipping community and department personnel, recruitment of civil safety personnel for each department (pag. 15).