HAITI / DIOUF

Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organization, kicks off spring planting season to promote national food production, rural employment and reforestation in Haiti. FAO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:16
• Production Date: 16 March 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION - FAO
• Subject Topical: NATURAL RESOURCES; ENVIRONMENT; ECOSYSTEMS; LAND; PLANTS; SOIL RESOURCES; AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS; AGRICULTURAL POLICY; RURAL SOCIOLOGY; CROP MANAGEMENT
• Geographic Subject: HAITI
• MAMS Id: U100316f

Description

STORY: HAITI / DIOUF
TRT: 2.16
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 14 MARCH 2010, LEOGANE, HAITI

Shotlist

1. Various shots, Director-General of Food and Agricultural Organization Jacques Diouf distributing black bean-seeds
2. Wide shot, Diouf arriving at planting area
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Jacques Diouf, Director-General, Food and Agricultural Organization:
"It is necessary to plant trees! It is necessary to plant trees! It is necessary to plant trees!”
4. Wide shot, people and erosion
5. Med shot, signing of the "Declaration of Léogane" to kick off the spring planting season
6. Med shot, Diouf with Haitian President René Préval and Haitian Prime Minister Max Bellerive
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Jacques Diouf, Director-General, Food and Agricultural Organization:
“Globally, with only 11 percent of funds, there is a lack of funds to advance agriculture. We need funds for food to feed people. It is necessary to accelerate local food production. Haiti remains essentially an agricultural country.”
8. Various shots, destruction in Leogane

Storyline

The Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) Director General Jacques Diouf kicked off the spring planting season in Haiti yesterday (15 March).

Diouf distributed seeds, fertilizer and tools to farmers at a planting ceremony in the village of Palmisse a Ven, near the earthquake’s epicenter in Leogane.

Diouf met with Haitian President Rene Preval and other senior government officials, including Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive and Minister of Agriculture Joanas Gue.

Diouf and Gue also signed the Leogane Declaration, signaling the commitment of FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development to work together on programmes aimed at increasing food production, supporting the integration of displaced populations in rural areas and building a revitalized, sustainable Haitian agriculture sector and promoting long-term investment.

According to FAO, a significant increase in national food production, rural employment and reforestation are key to a greener, more productive Haiti.

Similar distributions are under way in the South East, West and Artibonite. Between March and June, FAO plans to reach 180,000 smallholder farming families with 1,500 tonnes of seeds and fertilizers.
The spring campaign was a part of Diouf’s four-day visit to Haiti.