Extension Providers

Major Institutions Providing Extension/advisory Services in the Country

Public Sector

The public sector is represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), its decentralized structures including: Board of Agricultural Department, Municipal Agricultural Office (BAC), research and training centers, the State University of Haiti, and the National School of Agronomy. These institutions provide extension services through various departments and institutes some of which are listed below:

Public Extension Institutions

• Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development's (MARNDR) 
  • Directions Departementales Agricoles (DDA)
    • Bureaux Agricoles Communaux (BAC)

Public Research and Education Institutions

• National Institute for Agricultural Reform (INARA)
• Artibonite Valley Development Organization (ODVA)
• National Institute for Haitian Coffee (INCAH)
• University of Notre Dame d’Haiti (UNDH)
• The State University of Haiti (UEH)
  • College of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine (FAMV)
• National School of Agronomy (NSA)

Private Sector Firms

The private sector played an important and innovative role in supporting humanitarian assistance to Haiti right after the 2010 earthquake. Although small and fragmented, Haitian private sector can become involve in agriculture, and now it has an equally important role to play in helping Haiti achieve an accelerated economic trajectory. The private sector developed the commercialization of inputs in the 1990’s when the public sector decreased the direct interventions in the market.  However, after the 2008 storms and the last emergency programs, the role of the private sector in the commercialization of inputs (especially fertilizers, seeds, and agricultural tools) has again diminished (MARNDR, 2010). The productive capacity of Haiti’s small farmers is crucial in helping the country to overcome its crises and avert food shortages. Haiti needs the private sector now more than ever to help rebuild both the country and the livelihoods of poor rural farmers. Private sector firms are already involved in agricultural extension and advisory services delivery to rural farmers through farmers training on new technologies and supply of farm inputs. But for poor rural people to increase food production and improve their lives, a public-private partnership must be backed up with the right policies and support for rural communities. 

Non-Governmental Organizations and other Donors

Since the 1950s, NGOs have (partially) filled the void left by the government of Haiti in rural areas by providing basic development services (education, health, agricultural extension).  Some NGOs explicitly work toward the empowerment and organization of the poor (PID, 2011).  However, many provide basic services, such as health and agricultural extension, and avoid direct efforts at popular organization. There are both international NGOs wholly dependent on external international donor funds and local NGOs including both expatriates and local missionary groups and local peasant-led cooperatives. These NGOs have been successful in building strong local organizations that are instrumental in the transfer of agricultural information to its members.

Non-Governmental Organizations play a central role in the world of farming (service funds, supply of essential basic services, reinforcement of rural communities, etc.). They dispose of human resources and relatively important material guaranteeing the execution of their program and project plans. A firm partnership will allow them to converge together toward the durable development of the sector. However, because of past problems given that NGOs have historically operated independently of the government, many NGOs have developed a phobia of cooperation with the government or MARNDR. Haiti’s reconstruction and recovery process will take decades and will require the involvement of every government sector in the country, and many local and international humanitarian and development NGOs.

Locally- based NGOs, frequently lack regular and adequate levels of financing.  They also have weak administrative systems and have limited access to qualified technical assistance. Whereas, international Agency Support for local NGOs, several international agencies (both bilateral government agencies and private NGOs) provide funding and technical assistance to local NGOs rather than directly implementing projects.  Organizations using this approach include Helvetas, Fonds d'Aide et de Cooperation (FAC) (France), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Canadian international Development Agency (CIDA), and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF).  These organizations focus on strengthening the local institutions by using technical assistance. Some of the NGOs working directly in the agricultural sector and local extension services or provide funding and technical assistance includes:

• Mennonite Central Committee (MCC),
• Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (CARE),
• Save the Children Federation (SCF)
• Pan American Foundation (PADF)
• Haitian Association of  Voluntary Organizations (HAVA),
• Targeted Watershed Management Project (TWAMP).  
• Helvetas,  Fonds d'Aide et de Cooperation (FAC)
• Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
• Canadian international Development Agency (CIDA)

Farmer Based Organizations and Cooperatives

Community groups are the foundation for rural development activities and farmers are known to organizing themselves at local level into groups, associations and cooperatives around common interest like agricultural production to facilitate access to input and farm credit. In Haiti, farmers are organized into associations or cooperatives that operate as true partners in development programs and projects. As such these associations can build, as it has been witnessed in the last few years, the beginning of professionalization in a sub-sector like agriculture that responds to real concerns of farmers. These organization structures will always be implicated in the planning, financing, execution, and evaluation of activities of those programs and projects. A list of some commodity-based or community-based associations in Haiti is given as follows:

• National Association of Mango Exporters (ANEM)
• Haitian Association for the Promotion of livestock Farming (AHPEL)
• Association of Natural Oil Producers of the South (APHES)

List of Extension Providers

 The following list shows an excerpt from the GFRAS Directory of Extension Providers for Haiti. Some of these entries may be specially marked for having more detailed information in the database of the Worldwide Extension Study WWES.

Enabling Environment

Enabling (or Disabling) Environment

With the exception of some of the large irrigated valleys, Haiti’s geography is mountainous (80 percent of the surface) and does not lend itself well to production of field crops (28 percent is arable land). Furthermore, the natural and agricultural ecosystems and the livelihoods of inhabitants are under threat from several sources, including deforestation, soil erosion, increased intensity and impact of flooding, and unregulated livestock grazing (PID, 2011). In the past four years the country has been hit by tragic events among which a series of hurricanes and tropical storms and the earthquake of January 12^th, 2010, which devastated the capital, caused an exodus of a large number of people to rural area and destroyed many infrastructure. The number of people thought to be food insecure has increased dramatically. Haiti’s agricultural productivity hinges on a myriad of bold policy initiative, and the difficult context confronted by the actors of the agro-industrial private, formal and informal sector are far from been hopeless. Fortunately, there are initiatives that can be an encouraging sign for the implementation of a public action allowing to alleviate the constraints to which these operators are submitted and to create conditions so that they can be profitable on a long term. Haiti occupies a central position in the U.S. initiated Feed the Future investment plan. Invigorated in a sense by the MARNDR, NGOs (both local and international) and many associations of producers have engaged in a movement of professionalization, meaning the acquisition of specific expertise in the branch of the given sub-sector. Haiti can achieve great success in reducing food insecurity if all development agencies in the country effectively collaborate in the execution of their respective development programs. 

ICT

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Agriculture and Extension

There are important gains from using Information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture. ICT allows information generated by researchers to be more efficiently accessed by extension staff and transferred to farmers. With the introduction of personal computers, mobile phones and internet service around the world and in Haiti, ICT technologies are being used to boost rural development. Despite demonstrable economic gains worldwide from ICTs in agriculture, Haiti still lacks a national ICT policy. It is imperative that the government take a lead to build a proper ICT network in the country whose development landscape has been dominated by NGOs. There are indications that Haitian people are ready to take advantage of the new development tools as presented in a 2009 World Bank statistics report that indicated that 36.4 percent of the population of Haiti own and operate a mobile phone, and 10 percent of the population had access to internet in 2009.

Another wakeup call came from the recent introduction of the e-Sourcebook by the World Bank in a ceremony organized for the government of Haiti and other actors involve in agricultural development during which presenters provided development practitioners and governments with examples of where ICT in agriculture has been used, challenges and lessons learned using ICT, and guidelines on project development. It also attempts to address how ICT can be mainstreamed into agricultural interventions, research and entrepreneurship (Kwasi Addom, 2012). As an example of ICT use in agricultural extension example, iFormBuilder is currently being used by catholic Relief Services in a number of remote communities in Haiti to facilitate data sharing and reporting.

Training

Training for Extension Professionals

In Haiti, formal training of agricultural professionals is provided by mainly government institutions at various levels. Basic agricultural training is provided through regional training centers. The training of medium level management staff takes place within agricultural schools such as Agricultural College of Artibonite Valley (EMAVA), College of Development of Hinche (EMDH), College of Agro forestry (EMAF).  The University of Agriculture of Damien and the University of Production and Animal Health deliver bachelor, master and doctoral degrees in agriculture related fields. No formal agricultural extension degree program exists at these universities and colleges. However, most agricultural projects provide agricultural extension training to their staff without much intervention from the government. While many development programs have been able to develop and implement interesting and useful agricultural programs for both farmers and extension agents, the lack of a long term strategy limits the effectiveness of their programs.

With regard to in-service training, towards the end of the 1970’s through the beginning of 1990s, agricultural research centers were set up as research, training and development centers. These centers were created to develop new technologies and disseminate agricultural information to farmers. In addition, these centers participated in the formation and in-service training for many agricultural staff including lower level and higher level management and technical staff as well as farmers and students. Unfortunately these support services that came from research centers are practically inexistent today. The reestablishment of these services on a decentralized basis is highly desirable following the recent devastations of the agricultural infrastructure of the country (MARNDR, 2010).   

References

References

Kwasi Addom, B. 2012. The World Bank Launches e-Sourcebook on Ag. January 20, 2012. Retrieved on January 31^st 2012 from: http://agriculture.gbiportal.net/2012/01/20/the-world-bank-launches-e-sourcebook-on-ag/

MARNDR. Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Rural Development. 2010. Haiti,National Agricultural Investment Plan. Main Document. 

 PID. 2011. Project Information Document (PID) Concept Stage: Strengthening Agriculture Public Services. Republic of Haiti. Report No.:AB6084 

White, A. 1994. Policy Lessons from History and Natural Resource Projects in Rural Haiti. Working Paper No. 17, 58 Pages, November 1994. USAID.

World Bank. 2011. Relaunching Agriculture: Strengthening Agriculture Public Services II Project (GAFSP – IDA. Project information document concept stage. Report No. AB6084. November 11, 2011: 

Statistic

Statistical Indicators                                                                                               

Source: The World Bank, *Food and Agriculture Organization FAO