Haiti: funding not commensurate with needs, says WFP

It is a state of absolute emergency, according to the World Food Programme. Only 11% of the food and humanitarian aid budget for Haiti has so far been financed by UN member countries. This follows a global trend of lack of funding for humanitarian programmes. Interview with Jean Martin Bauer, WFP Country Director in Haiti.

Women line up at the New Church of God of Deliverance displacement camp, which is now home to 120 families from various neighborhoods hit hard since gangs expanded their territory and now control communities numbering some two million people, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti June 19, 2023. REUTERS - RALPH TEDY EROL

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RFI: What are the repercussions of budget cuts on the ground?

Jean Martin Bauer: Budget cuts have serious consequences. We estimate that at least one million Haitians will not have the assistance they need to be able to provide food. 700,000 people in emergency situations currently will not have assistance, if these programmes are not funded. There are also 200,000 children who currently have a hot meal every day in school canteens who will no longer have it at the beginning of the school year, if we are not funded. So we are sounding the alarm: funding is not commensurate with needs.

However, in the department of Artibonite, Haiti's breadbasket, there does not seem to be a lack of production. What prevents farmers from delivering their produce to the city?

The Artibonite is a large mango production area. But mangoes rot on the ground, because there is too much insecurity for traders to come and collect the production and bring it to the big markets. You should know that Artibonite producers already have difficulties cultivating, it is too dangerous for them to go to their fields, on their plots. There are thousands of hectares of crops that have been abandoned in recent years. Traders who bring production from productive areas to markets are sometimes ransomed, kidnapped, abused by gangs. So the people who are supposed to feed the country, who drive trade, production and agricultural trade in Haiti, are holed up in their homes, hiding because of this security crisis.

Does the Haitian state manage to recover this production? Does WFP also have solutions?

The only solution to this problem is peace. This violence must stop so that life can resume its course. In the meantime, there are things we are trying to do to relieve small producers. In Gonaïves, the capital of Artibonite, the World Food Programme buys fresh produce from small producers twice a week so that they do not have to travel to dangerous areas to market their production.

What state of mind are Haitians in?

The humanitarian situation in Haiti is catastrophic. There are 5 million people in the country who are in need of humanitarian aid and food aid. Half of the Haitian population is in need. Speaking to Haitians, I understand that the current situation has caused despair. They are really exhausted. In 2010, after the earthquake, there was a sense of hope. I heard that we were going to rebuild, that people were going to come together to build a better Haiti. This year, we do not see the end of the problems. It is not clear how this situation would come to a happy conclusion in the coming months. And so, unfortunately, it's despair.

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