LOC16:06
13:06 GMT
ROME, Jan 29 (KUNA) -- The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)
urged here Friday the international community to support the recovery plan
initiated by Haiti government to galvanize the agricultural sector,reconstruct
the island country in the aftermath of January 12 earthquake and to brace for
incoming hurricanes.
A statement circulated by the international agency said here today that FAO
called on the donor parties to support this plan that requires investment
worth of USD 700 million and aims at reconstructing the infrastructures and
strengthening the bases of the local production. Further,this plan will
provide job opportunities that withhold the population displacement from the
Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.
The statement said that the plan devised by the ministry of agriculture,
natural resources and rural development in Haiti as the theme of the
reconstruction strategy in the aftermath of the January 12 devastating
earthquake defined for world bodies the needs of the agricultural sector in
the coming 18 months.
On this respect,the FAO inked along with The Inter-American Institute for
Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)an accord with the ministry of agriculture in
Haiti for supporting this plan through which the IICA will channel the efforts
of,
"The combined partners within the framework of the UN and NGOs in order to
coordinate the assistance offered."
Meanwhile, the statement referred to the fragile food conditions before the
catastrophe as Haiti was much counting on importing all its needs and stressed
that,
"Developing the agricultural sector became an urgent priority" in view of
the expectations on a great exodus to the rural areas.
It said that the proposed plan precisely defined the urgent priorities as
it estimated the immediate needs for providing seeds,tools and fertilizers at
some USD 32 million in order to enable farmers to continue their production
with the start of the autumn season that yields about 60 percent of the gross
agricultural product of Haiti.
Eventually ,the plan defined other requirements in the short run including
fixing a quake-devastated sugar refinery plant as well as protecting natural
water catchments and reconstructing and strengthening the embankments and
irrigation canals. (end)
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