BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved a USD 7 million grant to launch a transformative agricultural project in Haiti’s Northwest Department (NWD). Building on the successes of the Community-Based Agriculture and Rural Development Project (CBARDP), this new initiative aims to tackle ongoing challenges such as poverty, food insecurity, and increased vulnerability caused by political instability and climate change.
Launched in 2016 with a USD 8 million grant co-financed by CDB and Welthungerhilfe, the CBARDP created over 19,000 short-term jobs in the NWD through improving water management infrastructure and systems. The project also provided training in climate-smart agriculture and established Water User Associations to ensure the sustainability of these systems, achieving fee collection rates of 70 to 100 percent for fully operational schemes. At the time, nearly 46 percent of households in the NWD were facing severe food insecurity, well above the national average of 30 percent. Independent evaluations revealed that 75 percent of beneficiaries saw their incomes double or triple, while crop yields increased by up to 600 percent.
Farmers shifted to cultivating higher-value, nutritious crops, improving access to urban markets, reducing child malnutrition, and enhancing overall community well-being.
A further 3,000 people will benefit from the new project, which will build on these achievements by further improving water management and access to over 300 hectares of land for agriculture, with the aim of doubling the number of crop cycles per year and increasing productivity by 50 percent. Other plans include improving equitable access to agricultural resources, expanding irrigation and drainage systems, enhancing farm roads, and implementing watershed protection measures such as reforestation and flood control. The project will also rehabilitate the ministry of agriculture natural resources and rural development’s extension unit office in the region to better support local farmers.
The participatory approach that defined CBARDP will continue, ensuring active community involvement throughout all stages, from needs assessment to implementation and operations.
Noting that Haiti’s NWD continues to face challenges, including declining arable land, erratic rainfall, and prolonged droughts, CDB’s director of the projects department (Ag), L. O’ Reilly Lewis, emphasised that CBARDP reviews highlighted the need for expanded investments in climate-smart agricultural.
“Promoting climate-smart agriculture remains a high priority for the region’s sustainable development. This project will scale up the successes of CBARDP and consolidate the gains already achieved. We will also focus on promoting gender equity by ensuring women’s active participation in livelihoods, income generation, decision-making, and leadership roles,” Lewis said.
CDB has previously provided grant funding for initiatives in Haiti, which included training on developing Geospatial Information System maps and creating mini-grid specifications for integration into future requests for proposals.
This new initiative will further strengthen CDB’s commitment to supporting sustainable agricultural development, resilience, and economic stability in Haiti’s Northwest Department.
