UN agency expects massive crop losses in Haiti due to cholera outbreak

UN agency expects massive crop losses in Haiti due to cholera outbreak

2010-12-29 17:22:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

PORT AU PRINCE (BNO NEWS) -- Fall-out from a deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti is expected to cause a significant portion of the rice harvest in the northwestern region of the Caribbean island-nation to be lost because of farmers' fears of cholera contamination, according to a United Nations agency on Wednesday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said a preliminary assessment indicates that many farmers are avoiding the harvest, fearing that the water in the rivers and canals that irrigate their paddies and other fields might be infected with cholera, which has claimed more than 2,700 lives since late October.

The FAO said there are also reports of consumers being unwilling to purchase products from regions directly affected by the cholera outbreak which will further impact agricultural commerce in the area. An FAO assessment team recently noted that some of the deaths in rural areas are not recorded by the authorities and many cases probably result from farming families not having access to the right information.

As lost crops could heavily impact food security and livelihoods in Haiti, the FAO said it is now working with Haitian authorities and UN agencies to give farmers correct information regarding the precautions to take while working in the fields. FAO and its partners are also supporting the assessment on cholera's impact on food security and rural livelihoods, which is being led by the Coordination Nationale de la Sécurité Alimentaire (CNSA).

According to Etienne Peterschmitt, Senior Emergency and Rehabilitation Coordinator for FAO in Haiti, it is extremely important that disease transmission mitigation measures specifically target farm communities and even more to the point, farm workers. A rapid FAO assessment revealed that the radio stations used for transmission of sensitization messages don't reach some remote areas. More sensitization designed to target rural low-income communities' needs to be done in person through hands on training and outreach, FAO said.

"Without a timely response to the damage caused by floods and cholera to Haitian agriculture, food security could plunge, worsening the effects of last January's earthquake on the poor rural population," FAO warned.

The effects of the cholera outbreak have been magnified by the November floods caused by hurricane Tomas which damaged farming infrastructure, damaging up to 78,000 hectares of crops and caused the disease to spread further, resulting in a sanitary crisis for over 50,000 rural families.

The cholera epidemic is the first major health crisis for Haiti since January's devastating earthquake, which killed more than 220,000 in Haiti's central region, leaving around 1.5 million people homeless. Many months later, more than 1 million people still live in crowded and poorly-conditioned camps.

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