Weather blamed for doubled food insecurity in Haiti

Weather blamed for doubled food insecurity in Haiti
UNICEF

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has blamed weather conditions for the doubling of food insecurity in Haiti.

WFP said on Tuesday that Haiti’s third consecutive year of drought, exacerbated by the global El Niño weather phenomenon, has driven people deeper into poverty and hunger, and doubled the severely food-insecure population.

Some 3.6 million Haitians are facing food insecurity, among them more than 1.5 million people who are “severely food insecure,” WFP said.

WFP said this is “a key finding” from an emergency food security assessment it conducted in collaboration with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and National Food Security Coordination.

“Without rain for the 2016 spring season, farmers will lose their fourth consecutive harvest on which they normally depend to feed their families,” warned Wendy Bigham, WFP’s deputy country director in Haiti.

“We need to help them meet their immediate needs and help build up their resilience,” she added.

According to the agency, the main harvest in 2015 fell below average, with losses of up to 70 per cent in some areas.

WFP said this is “severely threatening” food security in Haiti, where agriculture employs half of the working population and 75 per cent of people live on less than US$2 per day.

In addition, the UN said current El Niño phenomenon, which began in early 2015, is one of the strongest on record and is affecting the food security of vulnerable people around the globe, including in Haiti.

In some areas of the French-speaking Caribbean country, up to 70 per cent of the population is facing hunger.

A recent study conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the government of Haiti revealed that malnutrition rates are above emergency levels in several communes, according to the UN.

WFP said it intends to scale up its food assistance programs to address the “most critical and immediate needs” of one million drought-affected people by distributing cash and food rations.

The agency also plans to complement the immediate distributions with Cash-for-Assets programs, in which 200,000 Haitians are paid in cash in exchange for work on watershed management and soil conservation projects to improve local infrastructure for long-term development.

In coordination with the government, WFP said it has been distributing food to about 120,000 Haitians since November in areas worst affected by the drought.

WFP said a two-month food ration feeds a family of five, and includes such basic food items as rice, pulses, oil, sugar and salt.

WFP said its assistance to families is essential until at least the next harvest, expected in July.

To meet the basic needs of one million Haitians, the agency, which is funded entirely by voluntary contributions, said it requires US$84 million.