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Dedicated to Haitian Farmers and their SustainabilityDONATECOVID-19COVID-19 -
Dedicated To Our CauseDONATECOVID-19
Ecoworks International
OVERARCHING GOAL
To partner with, nurture, and bring resources to Haitian smallholder farmers so they can reach the highest level of autonomy, self-sufficiency, and sustainability.
MISSION
Enable farmers to cultivate an abundant food supply to feed Haiti, restore ecosystems, and advance social justice.
STRATEGY
Together with the farming communities, build Talia Farms, the regional development program that reflects our common vision, and to accompany them until they feel ready to take charge of the program, and their future.
Incorporate into all activities women’s equity, youth integration, and environmental stewardship.
OUTCOMES
Create a regional agricultural production hub to enable smallholder farmers to supply wholesale markets through newly formed agricultural cooperatives they own and manage.
Transform subsistence farms into viable businesses, and make it possible for participating communities to establish their own fundamental services such as access to water and irrigation, improved sanitation, education, healthcare, and renewable power
Adopt technologies to base planning and programs on observation and data.
Become ready to establish local agroindustry and exports.
WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW
COVID-19 Haiti
The novel coronavirus arrived in Haiti much later that it did in the US. Infections are in full upward swing. The last count, according to Worldometer, (6-21-2020) is: 5,077 cases, 88 confirmed deaths.
Take Action With Us
One container, soap and disinfectant serving ten families for one-month costs $25. Another 30 containers will provide access to hand washing for another 1,500 residents completing the coverage of all 14,000. Because there are no tests available, nor are there any local medical services in this isolated mountainous region, the urgency to keep the community safe is paramount. We know these are tough times for us all. But if you can, please donate. A $5 or $10 donation, which we will stretch a long way, will make a real, life-long difference for each man, woman and child within our rural community.
From the bottom of our hearts, Thank You, and Keep Safe.
- EWI and Marre-Roseau’s cooperative, CAMA, provide large oil drums converted into 35-gallon water containers with spigots to enable clusters of families wash their hands throughout the day. Soap and disinfectants are also provided. Marre-Roseau is a region totally without water, but those who saved rainwater from the last rainy season, are now sharing it with everyone. The drums are being installed by local teams throughout this mountainous region, some in hard to reach places. Everyone in the community is doing their part to keep all of us safe.
- In daily consultations with the Marre-Roseau community team, we review the latest information on how the virus propagates and, taking local culture into account, we find best ways to protect the population against contagion. To date, we estimate 100 infected individuals, including one member of our team.
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF FOOD INSUFFICIENCY IN HAITI
Haiti’s food shortages – triggered by draughts, social unrest, flooding, epidemics, extreme poverty, and lack of a cohesive governmental support – have been recurring over decades. The international response is to send large quantities of food by plane for countrywide distribution.
Sending food alleviates some of the immediate problems, but it also destroys long-term local food production. It perpetuates a cycle stuck in a continuous loop of food emergencies and international responses.
Instead, Haitian farmers need a ten-year, nationwide, effective development plan that increases farmers’ capacity to feed the country and respond to food shortages. Eventually, farmers will be able to altogether prevent food emergencies in Haiti.
Read More
Below, are main points such a development plan needs to address to achieve food sufficiency. First and foremost, It must empower Haitian smallholder farmers who represent more than 90% of the country’s food producers. 1. To have a single national agricultural development plan, approved by all Haitian stakeholders, including smallholder farmers, serving the entire country, with clear goals, objectives, and time-specific, verifiable, and transparent results, and related expenditures. Ensure that smallholder farmers’ input is gathered and included in the plan. The report on the plan’s progress and related expenditures should be published quarterly and submitted to the press. The plan must focus on smallholder farmers’ needs, as they represent 90% of all agricultural producers. The report should be succinct, based on facts and results. 2. Report on the plan’s progress and expenditures quarterly to donors, stakeholders, and the media. 3. Establish a national, permanent extension program to support farmers on a pre-determined annual schedule corresponding to planting and harvesting. 4. Create a national registry of all smallholder farmers so no one is left behind. 5. Promote organic, sustainable farming that remediates the soil and reforests the country. 6. Catalogue innovative local practices and disseminate them all over the country through extension training. 7. Build the necessary infrastructure: access to water, roads for timely deliveries, and storage facilities, placed strategically. 8. Support existing and create new agricultural cooperatives to promote farmers’ autonomy and self-reliance. Provide sustainable support to Haitian farmers will enable them to feed Haiti in all circumstances, and lift rural communities out of poverty. To continue sporadically dump large quantities of food from abroad, undermines Haitian farmers and accelerates their and the country’s downward spiral into deeper poverty. Ecoworks International’s Talia Farms is a regional program based on these goals and objectives. It aims to improve smallholder farmers’ productivity, earnings, and quality of life. It supports farmers’ autonomy and self-determination by organizing them into agricultural cooperatives they own and manage. Let’s do it right, do it now, and be impactful.
Let’s do it right, do it now, be impactful, and support smallholder Haitian farmers so they and their families can feed Haiti and emerge from poverty.
Get Involved: (305) 444 0127 (landline); info@ecoworksinternational.org
OUR PROGRAM AND PROJECTS
TALIA FARMS COOPERATIVES PROGRAM
Economic Development Based on Farmer's Equity
EWI News
RECENT NEWS
COOPPERATIVES
- The first of the five Talia Farms planned cooperatives opened in September 2019 – Click on The Marre-Roseau Cooperative icon to know more.
- The Goat Project received full funding. As soon as the health crisis ends, we will purchase improved-breed goats. They will be sourced in Haiti to support local breeders. The women of CAMA are in charge of this project.
- CAMA plans to start a coffee production to diversify its crops, add a revenue stream, and use coffee trees as a reforestation project to mitigate floods, landslides and soil erosion.
ECOWORKS INTERNATIONAL
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- EWI is a member of Haiti Takes Root, Ayiti Vèt – a Haitian initiative to assemble organizations working in Haiti and practicing environmental stewardship. The coalition shares information and engages in advocacy to protect the environment.
Donate
Your Support is Vital
What if five year-old Kenel, eight years old Roseline, and twelve years old Nadia wouldn’t spend five hours a day carrying water, instead of going to school? With your support we can build rainwater catchment systems to free the children from this chore and send them to school instead.
What if hundreds of farmers could organize themselves into agricultural cooperatives so they can improve their productivity, sell more crops, earn more money, and be able to better care for their families. With your support the first of the five planned regional co-ops just opened its doors.
When you invest in small-scale farming families, you change their lives for the better and forever.
Thank you!