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Only a single dirt road connects Haiti’s Grand Anse department, a protruding piece of land in the southwestern corner of the country, to the rest of the country. Despite its remoteness, the population of Grand Anse has grown by around 120,000 people since the devastating earthquake in 2010, thanks to an influx of refugees from hard-hit areas. The rapid population growth has put a severe strain on the region’s resources and food supplies, exacerbating already chronic malnutrition levels. To prevent the situation from deteriorating further, FAO and its partners launched a project that is improving nutrition and livelihoods for more than 5 000 of the region’s most vulnerable families. The project provides women with hands-on training in home-based food production techniques and courses on the importance of making nutrition-friendly decisions about what to grow and feed their families.
In the small town of Moron, in Haiti’s Grand Anse department, a community garden has become the centre of social life. The garden is a thriving symbol of the success of an FAO project that has empowered women from several surrounding villages to prioritise nutrition when deciding what crops to grow and what livestock to raise. In fact, the project has been so successful that project staff refer to the local women who work alongside them in the garden as mamans lumières, or “mothers of light”.
The name symbolizes their passion for what they have learned about nutrition and agricultural production, and their willingness to pass on their knowledge to other women in the community. They even create songs and plays to share their knowledge, which attracts audiences and creates a chain reaction, teaching families throughout the region tips on food production and proper eating habits. This, in turn, has helped alleviate the region’s chronic malnutrition problem.
Vegetable gardens fill nutritional gaps
The project’s success is due in part to a strategic decision to not only introduce yield-enhancing technologies but also address complex nutritional issues. In its initial phase, FAO studied the problem and causes of malnutrition in the region, identified local crops that could fill nutritional gaps, and developed plans to improve or increase production of these foods.
The project, which operates in 12 municipalities in the Grand Anse, offers courses aimed at increasing production, such as agronomy, livestock breeding and marketing. At the same time, it introduces women to good practices in hygiene, food handling and childcare – all the while maintaining a pro-nutrition perspective. The programme includes training, workshops, cooking classes and practical experience in applying new agricultural techniques and cooking skills, all aimed at increasing women’s ability to produce food and prepare meals to improve the nutrition and health of their families.
Processing tips mean year-round nutrition
Mango processing is a prime example, introduced in response to seasonality. Like many crops and fruits, mangoes are so abundant that they are often left to rot on the trees or on the ground, as seasonal supply greatly exceeds demand. The project includes mango processing, teaching the women how to dry and process the mangoes when they are ripe. Not only does the processed fruit provide consumers with critical vitamin A needed year-round, the women can also sell the excess to increase their family income. The same is true for other local produce, such as okra and amaranth, leafy vegetables whose nutritional value the women were unaware of until they attended FAO training sessions.
This philosophy is particularly relevant in Grande Anse. The province was spared the devastation of the 2010 earthquake that struck the rest of the country, but had to cope with a population surge when some 120,000 people flocked here seeking shelter. The dramatic population growth put further pressure on a region whose resources were already compromised and whose population suffered from chronic malnutrition, stunting and micronutrient deficiencies.
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