United Nations Radio

The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization has called for some of the $20 billion that G8 leaders pledged for farmers in poor countries in Italy last July to fund integrated rural development in Haiti.

Diouf calls for G-8 funds for Haiti

Jacques Diouf, the Director-General of the UN food and agriculture agency, was speaking at the invitation the United States at a special session on agriculture of the Technical Preparatory Conference for Haiti hosted by the Government of the Dominican Republic in Santo Domingo.

FAO, in close collaboration with the Haitian government, has prepared a $721 million investment blueprint for the agricultural sector comprising three tracks: the development of rural areas, production and development of distribution channels and agricultural services and institutional support.

Diouf said that taking into account the criteria and commitments made at the G8 summit in L'Aquila last July, Haiti could be considered one of the recipient countries of the G8 funds.

The Santo Domingo meeting, attended by top officials from 28 Latin American and Caribbean countries, is designed to prepare the way for the Donor Conference on Haiti in New York on March 31.

Diouf was on his way back from a trip to Haiti where he met with President René Préval and other senior government officials, including Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and Minister of Agriculture Joanas Gué.

More than half the Haitian population lived in rural areas before the earthquake. Agriculture accounts for 27 percent of Haiti's economic output.

Diane Bailey, United Nations
Duration: 1'43"