Help 500 Rural Haitian Families Fight Hunger

Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving!

Over the past few months, we have continued with the nutrition program and thanks to your generous contributions, the families involved have been making great use of the rabbit, chicken and goat processing facility. In the next phase of the project, we are focused on improving the facility by making provisions for a roof! This is another step in helping families reach their maximum potential for weekly processing and sales.

The goal is to equip the facility so that it has the capacity to process 3,000 small animals per week. This will not only help families significantly expand their production but also help them secure their positions as producers/suppliers in the market and increase the availability of meat within their households. A well-equipped processing facility will allow producers to more hygienically manage all aspects of meat processing. 

During this time of Thanksgiving, we are particularly thankful for your support! 

Thank you for your support of the Feeding Families project in Haiti! Funds from Global Giving have contributed to vegetable production activities, trainings in rabbit farming, and general management assistance in several communities in Grand Boulage, Sibert, and Kenscoff. Working with our local partner Makouti Agro-Enterprise, we are finding creative ways to respond to the ongoing food crisis in Haiti. For rural Haitians, increased small animal production and sales translates into food for family consumption in addition to growth and diversification of family income. Rabbit meat, for example, is high in protein and in high demand in-country. Trainings in rabbit production have educated rural Haitians in proper cage construction, animal nutrition, and meat processing. Future plans include reinforcing the roof of the animal-processing facility in Sibert. This will help producers ensure the safe and hygienic processing of their products. As the quality of the meat improves, so too should demand and in-turn, farmers’ incomes.

Thank you again for your generous assistance with these activities! 

Over the past months, Makouti Agro Enterprise in collaboration with the Farmer to Farmer Program has worked to grow animal production in Sibert and nearby areas. Animal production in rural communities provides these families with a source of protein in their diets, and also a source of income as they are being linked to urban markets.

In our last update, we described plans for an improved animal-processing facility in Sibert. This would enable producers to slaughter and handle the meat in a more hygienic way and also means better meat quality. One section will serve as a meeting room and a separate area will be devoted to processing the animals.

Your donations were used to complete this new and improved rabbit-, chicken- and goat-processing facility!  We thank you for your continued support of the project.

First off, thank you for your generous support of the Feeding Families Project in Haiti! As the project expanded to include not just Grand Boulage, but also the nearby communities of Croix des Bouquets, Sibert, and Kenskoff, one of the main challenges has been market linkages for producers in these communities. By increasing income of project participants, their purchasing power increases and they are better able to feed their families so linking them to markets is critical. As these communities try and tap into markets in Port-au-Prince, GlobalGiving funding has helped by providing needed supplies and training. 

With the rabbits, one of the goals is to sell 300 rabbits weekly to markets in Port-au-Prince. While demand is growing, producers need a central location where they can slaughter and prepare them for market. In Sibert, there is already a location for this but with the help of donors, the structure is being improved with an eye towards better hygiene and meat quality. The location can then be used for preparing not just rabbits but also chickens and goats for the market. Having a central location for this will help ensure high quality products, which will lead to more demand and more income for producers.

Without the support of donors like you, this would not be possible. Thank you again for your generous support of the Feeding Families project!

Thank you for your generous support of the Feeding Families Project in Haiti! As mentioned previously, once things got off the ground in Grand Boulage, activities were spread to nearby communities such as Croix des Bouquets, Sibert, and Kenskoff. Here is a highlight from one of those communities. 

In Kenskoff, funds raised through Global Giving were combined with other donations to purchase and distribute 20 rabbit cages. Training was provided in rabbit production and general management and the number of rabbit producers increased from 17 to 41. In addition, 27 rabbit raisers were trained in meat quality assurance.  Future plans for small animal production in Kenskoff including continuing to work on a rabbit marketing strategy and increasing production. They would also like to set up a hygienic meat processing plant.

In order to spread knowledge and training further, project funds covered the cost of bringing together 20 key production leaders from seven communities, including Kenskoff and Grand Boulage, to be part of a rabbit network meeting in Port-au-Prince. As the rabbit marketing network grows, producers will have more options for selling their animals and will be able to get higher prices.

Kenskoff is also receiving assistance in vegetable production and 23 producers from Kenskoff and Croix de Bouquets were trained in low cost techniques that can help improve their harvests of lettuce and cabbage. Goals and plans for vegetable production in Kenskoff include setting up a small nursery and training producer on how produce strong seedling as they are currently losing a lot of time and money trying to manage seeds.

It is with the support of donors like you that we can accomplish so much. Thank you again.

Links:

• Read more about our other activities in Haiti and elsewhere