HAI/10/094 - Establish a pilot area for market gardening

Objective: To enable farmers of the area to become self-sufficient in cultivating and growing their own crops.

Background: The current problems include: • poverty of the population who survive only through the sale of charcoal, causing serious deforestation problems and soil impoverishment; • malnutrition of the population (few resources, no crops during the dry season) who consume essentially rice, Congo beans, yams, sweet potatoes; • damage to the few crops by wandering animals (essentially goats).

Use of Funds: The funds will be used to create a pilot area of market gardening following the process described below: • Experiment with 3 methods of cultivation (one with French seeds and according to the techniques of “Jardin Tropical Amélioré” -Improved Tropical Gardening-, the other two with Haitian seeds but using two different techniques) and control of irrigation. • Purchase a plot of farmland situated next to the drilling carried out recently by “Aquassistance” where the land is less poor than in other areas of the island. • Protect the plot from animals with a stone wall and fence. • Divide this plot into 3 areas of 100m² and install a shelter to store tools and equipment. • The farmers will sow and cultivate the plots during one year with the aim of obtaining 3 harvests per year; all useful indications will be recorded and conclusions of this experience will be used to extend the number of family gardens and their production.

Beneficiaries: Unknown