Farmers dig in heels to sustain school meals in Haiti

The Ministry of Education is building capacities of farmer associations with a membership of 20,000 smallholder farmers, to produce more food varieties and supply the school meals programme. Photo Credit: WFP/Pedro Rodrigues

By Pedro Rodriguez in Haiti

Despite the numerous challenges that have displaced over 362,000 people in Haiti, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and partners are responding to urgent needs including ensuring that over a million children continue to receive daily school meals. Nearly 50 percent of Haitians are facing acute food shortages, with approximately 1.4 million people experiencing emergency levels of hunger, most of them children. Providing meals in schools can guarantee these children at least one nutritious meal per day, as well as ensuring they can remain in school and have a chance to focus on their education. It will also help protect them from risks associated with incidents of violence and being recruited by armed gangs.

One of the challenges posed by the security problems in Haiti is difficulties by some schools to access ingredients for school meals. Some local markets have closed while movement of food is very difficult in some places. In areas such as Artibonite valley, which is the country’s breadbasket, some armed gangs recently invaded the area and took over farmland. The Haiti Home-grown school meals programme has turned its attention to local smallholder farmers working around schools to become the main source of food supplies to ease the delivery of ingredients in schools. Working with partners, the Ministry of Education is building capacities of 170 farmer associations with a membership of 20,000 smallholder farmers, to produce more food varieties. 

The initiative is paying off as over 50 percent of the meals provided in schools are now prepared with locally sourced ingredients. Buying from farmers is also in line with Haiti’s National School Feeding Policy and Strategy promoting use of local food in the programme by 2030. Efforts are creating synergies by connecting smallholder farmers to schools and other local markets, reinforcing local food systems. 

Smallholder farmers such as 41-year-old Iler Cambronne, who supplies banana-plantains to schools in his community said he is happy to be able to quickly sell his fresh produce and making a good income.  

To meet the high demand for banana plantains, he has employed 10 people from his community to help him on his farm.  “I am selling up to 50 dozen bunches of plantains each week and this is good business.” Cambronne is planning to expand his production to ensure adequate supplies throughout the year. The income Cambronne and other smallholder farmers are getting from the sales is helping them meet their household needs, expand their production and to pay the workers helping them on their farms.

One of the part-time workers at Cambronne’s farm, Kentonn, aged 21, has benefitted from school meals while in primary school. He is happy to support efforts to buy from local farmers to help sustain the school meals programme.  Moreover, he said, when school buy locally, the students can eat fresh and nutritious food they are familiar with while the local farmers can create new jobs for others to help them meet the demand. 

Haiti joined the School Meals Coalition in April 2022, and working with other governments inspired the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to develop a new School Feeding Policy launched in January this year. The Policy sets an ambitious goal aiming to ensure all children receive nutritious meals in school, using only local produce by 2030. 
The policy also emphasizes strengthening partnerships in areas including innovative financing, deliver meals to all children in Haiti. In April this year, Haiti signed a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, Education Above All, and the Global Partnership for Education, to the tune of USD 44 million, of which USD 11.5 million will be allocated to school meals support, targeting 30,000 children over a three-year period.