In 2012, the Big Moo Canoe and YOU will be supporting Heifer's REACH Program in Haiti
Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti, learn more below.
The future of Haiti begins in its soil but it will come to fruition only in the marketplaces of the Caribbean, Central and South America and beyond.
Heifer International has committed to investing $18.7 million in REACH — Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti — with the aim to work with farming families, aid organizations, producers', municipalities, public-private sector partnerships and others to rehabilitate and strengthen the crop- and livestock-based livelihoods. Approximately $15 million of the REACH project cost will be contributed directly, and the remaining $3.7 million will be contributed according to Heifer principle of passing on the gift, a living cycle of sustainability that develops community and enhances self-esteem by allowing project partners to become donors.
REACH will build up four livestock sub-sectors (goats, cattle, poultry and pigs), using integrated farming to improve production and strengthen linkages with buyers. Haiti has a long history with livestock and agriculture, but both are sorely underutilized. With training in animal management and environmentally friendly crop production, there is great probability for success, in livelihood and in building links to markets.
This project will change the lives of 20,250 Haitian families through:
Targeting Haitian youth to revitalize and produce more opportunities for them so we can begin to reverse the aging farm population. Doing this will give them reason to stay home and work on a productive, income-producing farm.
Creating family-run breeding centers creating jobs, wealth and providing for improved livestock breeds—something that has never been done before in Haiti.
Haiti's food-producing and soil protection systems are inefficient. Heifer will work with communities to increase efficiency, which will increase production, quality, outputs, and ultimately, develop assets the farmers can use to create market opportunities and build businesses.
Every project in Haiti will include disaster preparedness. We will work with and train farmers to identify and mitigate risks and safeguard their assets—their animals.
Our work in Haiti is being done with the environment in mind. Through proper management, animals are complimentary to the crops and actually improve the environment, for example, zero grazing, so groundcover is protected and manure collection to provide organic fertilizer. Our goal is to leave the environment better than we found it.
Heifer's REACH project will help more than 100,000 people overall — the largest animal project of its kind in Haiti's history. This is a significant scaling up of Heifer's traditional work, but we have been successful elsewhere, in East Africa with dairy development (benefiting more than 200,000 smallholder farmers in three countries) and beyond. By scaling up, we will help more people help themselves, speeding the end of hunger and poverty.
Untitled Document
Why support Heifer International? Watch the video below.
The future of Haiti begins in its soil but it will come to fruition only in the marketplaces of the Caribbean, Central and South America and beyond.
