April 12, 2010

Dear Con­gres­sional leaders:

As you con­sider the FY 2010 Haiti Sup­ple­men­tal for the Depart­ment of State and USAID, we urge you to allow for greater flex­i­bil­ity in how we deliver food aid, by per­mit­ting local or regional pur­chase of emer­gency food aid for Haiti, and the use of emer­gency non-food assis­tance, includ­ing vouch­ers, cash trans­fers, or safety-net programs.

The pri­mary pur­pose of US food assis­tance to Haiti should be to address Haiti’s shock­ing nutri­tion and food secu­rity prob­lems.  Nearly half the pop­u­la­tion is under­nour­ished.  One-third of new­born babies are born under­weight.  The World Food Pro­gram esti­mates that 2.4 mil­lion Haitians are food insecure.

Although Haiti has large urban areas, Haiti is pre­dom­i­nately a rural and agri­cul­tural soci­ety.  More than two-thirds of Haitians rely on agri­cul­ture for their liveli­hood.  In past years, Hait­ian farm­ers pro­duced most of the country’s food, and con­sumers ate a wider vari­ety of sta­ples and starches.  In the last 20 years, cheaply imported rice has over­taken other starches and cere­als and under­mined Hait­ian farmers.

There’s no rea­son that Hait­ian farm­ers shouldn’t feed Haiti again in the future.  And US food assis­tance can play a pos­i­tive role, rather than con­tribut­ing to the grow­ing import depen­dence and declin­ing rural sec­tor.  But to play a more con­struc­tive role, US food assis­tance must be flexible.

The earth­quake could exac­er­bate Haiti’s depen­dence on U.S. imports and for­eign aid.  Or the assis­tance and recon­struc­tion can assist with rural devel­op­ment, build­ing a stronger agri­cul­ture sec­tor and reduc­ing food inse­cu­rity.  Imported rice from the United States has been a key part of the human­i­tar­ian aid response so far, and this food aid has been urgently needed in the short term to avert hunger.  But as Haiti rebuilds, Hait­ian farm­ers in the coun­try­side could be the ones feed­ing the peo­ple in Port-au-Prince.  But they’re ham­pered by the absence of credit, anti­quated tools, dam­aged irri­ga­tion sys­tems, pro­hib­i­tively high fer­til­izer prices, sub­si­dized rice, and food aid that under­cuts their sales.

Hait­ian Pres­i­dent Rene Preval recently urged Pres­i­dent Obama and other donors to stop pro­vid­ing food aid by the end of March in order to make room for pur­chase from national pro­duc­ers and help to let the Hait­ian peo­ple help them­selves in the long-term.

As the world’s biggest food aid donor, our nation plays a vital role in respond­ing to emer­gency food needs in Haiti and around the world. Devel­op­ing a  more flex­i­ble approach to food aid for Haiti, includ­ing local and regional pro­cure­ment of food, could help make our for­eign assis­tance efforts even  more effec­tive, more account­able, more effi­cient, and more likely to ensure that peo­ple who need assis­tance get it quickly, all while sup­port­ing Hait­ian farm­ers and citizens.

Signed,

Action­Aid USA
Amer­i­can Jew­ish World Ser­vice
Bread for the World
CARE
Cen­ter for Eco­nomic and Pol­icy Research
Church World Ser­vice
Colum­ban Cen­ter for Advo­cacy and Out­reach
Con­fer­ence of Major Supe­ri­ors of Men
Envi­ron­men­tal Jus­tice Ini­tia­tive for Haiti
Food and Water Watch
For­eign Pol­icy In Focus

Gen­der Action

Global Min­istries of the Chris­t­ian Church (Dis­ci­ples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ.
Groundswell International

Insti­tute for Jus­tice and Democ­racy in Haiti
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA
Lambi Fund of Haiti

Lutheran World Relief
Mary­knoll Office for Global Con­cerns
Men­non­ite Cen­tral Com­mit­tee US Wash­ing­ton Office
Mercy Corps
Mis­sion­ary Oblates of Mary Immac­u­late, Jus­tice Peace/Integrity of Cre­ation Office
ONE

Out­reach Inter­na­tional
Oxfam Amer­ica
Part­ners in Health
Pres­by­ter­ian Church (U.S.A.), Wash­ing­ton Office
Quixote Center/Haiti Reborn
Robert F. Kennedy Cen­ter for Jus­tice & Human Rights
TransAfrica Forum

United Church of Christ, Jus­tice and Wit­ness Min­istries
United Methodist Church, Gen­eral Board of Church and Soci­ety
Wash­ing­ton Office on Latin America