Help Reforest the Barren Lands of Haiti!

Trees for the Future's biggest challenge during this reporting period is the lack of rainfall to sustain the trees after outplanting. Therefore, we are still waiting for the appropiate level of rainfall that can reach a level of sustainability for the plants to survive being outplanted on each individual farmer's properties. Despite the ongoing drought, Trees for the Future has been able to continue teaching the various agroforestry techniques such as: 

1) Intercropping

2) Assisted natural regeneration

3) Composting

4) Erosion control

5) Bareroot nursery establishment and maintence

More over the species that Trees for the Future has supplied to the community groups are: 

1) Morenga olefeira

2) Cassia senna

3) Swietenya macrophylla and mahogaony

4) Cedrela odorata

5) Catalpa longitissima

Despite the challenges with the drought, the recipients have a better understanding of the importance of community participation in the success of objectives. The farmers are showing more enthusiasm to plant trees especially fast-growing and multipurpose species. The community leaders have an increase in capacity to mobilize all members of the community for the project activities. The beneficiaries have a better understanding of the importance of trees for the natural environment, water conservation, and soil fertility. 

The activities planned for the next reporting period are based on the availability of sustainable rainfall. If there is enough rain, the group members will transfer the trees and plant on thier land. The farmers will also learn to prepare thier land and the nurseries to minimize the damages from the upcoming hurricane season. Furthermore, the activities will also include; 

1) Rehabilitation of the nurseries

2) Training/workshop for communities

3) Follow up in the previous tree plantations

4) Nursery maintenance

5) Agriculture service (in field technical support to farmers)

6) Community meetings to discuss about problems and ways to tackle them

7) Planning of the second tree planting of the year (meeting people and visiting possible sites of transplantation, preparation of sites)

8) Tree planting campaign +follow up on the tree plantations (replacing those trees lost during the first season planting) 

Despite the drought, Trees for the Future is continuing to empower the community groups to increase thier capacity to improve thier enviornment while increasing thier crop yields. The ultimate goal is to train the community members to a level in which they can go from subsistence agriculture to producing cash crops for markets. Thank you for your time, Im looking forward to any opportunity to further discuss this project.

During the current reporting period, Trees for the Future in Haiti has been providing technical assistance to the farmers in anticipation of the first rains of the rainy season. There are over 10,000 trees in the nurseries that are ready to be out planted.  The community nurseries contain mixed varieties of species such as:

1)      Moginga Oleiferia

2)      Mangifera Indica

3)      Swietenya Macrophylla

4)      Simauruba Glauca

The majority of the technical assistance has consisted of helping each farmer to decide what agroforestry techniques they are going to apply to their land and creating a plan for the implementation.  The biggest short term goal of over 70 percent of the farmers is that they want to learn agroforestry techniques that will restore the nutrients of their soil and protect their land from erosion and landslides. Therefore, our technicians have adjusted the technical support to help the farmers reach their goals. The few of the adjusted techniques are:

          1)  live fencing

          2)  windbreak

           3)  soil improvement

           4)  composting

           5)  contour farming

           6)  hillside restoration

 All of the activities are accommodated towards the farmers being ready to plant immediately upon the arrival of the first rains of the rainy season. It is estimated that the first rains will come in the beginning of April.

                                                 TREES FOR THE FUTURE- HAITI                                                                                                                                     Report update                                                                                                                                                    December 13 th, 2012

Community members of Bethel have completed several activities during this reporting period. The main accomplishments are:

1) Rehabilitation of the Central Nursery

2) Nursery maintenance and preparation of site for the upcoming outplanting season 

3) Tree planting 

Rehabilitation of the Central Nursery:

The Central Nursery of Bethel currently has 10,000 multi purpose and fast growing trees. The activities of the nursery was significantly hindered due to the drought and the passage of Hurricane Sandy. However, the damages to the nursery has been rehabilitated by the local inhabitants in a record amount of time.

Rehabilitated Maintenance in the nursery and preparation of site for the upcoming outplanting season: 

During the last month, technicians and farmers have learned composting. They specifically learned about the benefits of composting, how to make compost, fill out tree bags, and clean the nursery beds (shrubs) while choosing the sites where they will plant the trees. They have immediately applied thier new skills to thier nursery. 

Tree planting: 

Trees for the Future assisted the Bethel community members in planting 2,500 trees along the bank of the Bethel River. This river has flooded and caused a lot of damage to the Bethel area on a regular basis. During the workshops with the community members, they learned that the trees will help to reduce the flooding and damages to their property and livelihoods. 

During this past Summer, Trees for the Future started a new project in another environmentally vulnerable community of the Arcadine coast called Bethel. The community of Bethel has shown great interest in our work. The specific support that Bethel requires from Trees for the Future consist of reforestation, Bethel River bank protection, agro-forestry training and agricultural support. Trees for the Future aims is to progressively respond to these needs as resources allow. During this reporting period, the community groups convened and established the community nursery. During the establishment of nurseries, the groups were taught the importance and benefits of planting trees on their lands. They also learned the proper ways of establishing and taking care of their nurseries. They specifically learned that tree planting restores nutrients to barren lands, helps to maintain water tables, and solidifies soil on the hillsides which deters landslides. Furthermore, the community groups were also taught that the damages from the natural disasters of the earthquake of 2010 as well as the hurricanes and tropical storms that have hit Haiti were compounded due to the neglect of the environment. They have also learned that agroforestry is the solution to overcoming the damages to natural disasters in juxtaposition to the challenges of poverty and food security.

During the next period, it is estimated that the community groups will be able to give 10,000 baby trees to farmers and community groups throughout the area. A few of the species are Swietenya Macrophylla, Cedrela Odorata, Morenga Olefeira, Cassia Senna, and Mangifera Indica. Furthermore, they will learn the specific agroforestry technologies that will benefit their environment as well as protect their land from soil erosion and the community from landslides. The specific agroforestry technologies are intercropping, live fencing, contour farming, and sylvopastoral systems.

The community groups are thankful to all the donors for helping them have access to logistical materials that will allow them to work themselves out of poverty and vulnerability to natural disasters. Moreover, they kindly request that all donors come to Bethel and see for themselves the wonderful work that their donations are going towards.  

Links:

• An article about our work in Haiti

On June 12^th, Trees for the Future had their initial planning meeting which was attended by the 20 leaders of the various farmers groups throughout the town of Bethel, Haiti. After enduring another disappointing year of lower than average rainfall, which lead to a decline in crop yields, the leaders conveyed to Trees for the Future that all of the group members are excited about this opportunity to learn modern agro-forestry techniques which will give them the tools to raise their quality of life while enhancing the surrounding environment.    

The subjects covered included:

•  The announcement that Global Giving supporters have begun to donate funding for their agro-forestry projects;
•  Nominating local technicians that will be trained to maintain the community tree nursery;  
•  The schedule for teaching modern agro-forestry techniques to the group members.

The leaders were excited to hear the news that Global Giving supporters have donated funding for the agro-forestry project in their community. The leaders have agreed that they will support the project in anyway possible and they are looking forward to getting the project started. The next steps consist of locating a suitable site for establishing the community nursery, setting specific dates for training each of the groups in nursery construction, maintenance, agro-forestry techniques, and establishing the community nursery. The group leaders thank the donors of Global Giving for investing in their future and they assure everyone that the donor's efforts will not go in vain.    

Links:

• Trees for the Future's work in Haiti