UNASUR, Argentina fund Haiti program to help fight hunger

PM Lamothe (on the right), Ambassador Mattarollo (center) and Argentine Ambassador Marcelo Raul sebaste (left), signing an agreement to help poor families in Haiti to produce their own food (photo: ) PM Lamothe (on the right), Ambassador Mattarollo (center) and Argentine Ambassador Marcelo Raul sebaste (left), signing an agreement to help poor families in Haiti to produce their own food

Published on 21 December 2013 by Joe Colas HCNN

The Union of South-American Nations and Argentina joined the Haitian government in funding the extension of a program to help vulnerable families to produce their own food and fight hunger in poor communities in a Caribbean country where most Haitians live on less than two dollars per day.

The Ambassador of UNASUR to Haiti, Rodolfo Mattarollo, said his organization was pleased to facilitate the funding of such an initiative which is inspired by a program called “Pro Huerta”,  initiated by the Argentine government.

“We are supporting this agricultural program to assist vulnerable families, with 8 million dollars, including 3 million provided by Argentina,” Mattarollo said this week during a news conference with Prime minister Laurent Lamothe, in the haitian Capital.

“It is not really a question of money, it is question of solidarity in the framework of the South-South cooperation,” said Mattarollo.

Prime Minister Lamothe said the program had so far targeted 37,000 poor families who were granted support to grow crops that helped them find food to subsist. With the extension, the program will help assist 200,000 families.

“We thank our Latin-American friends and Argentina for their solidarity with these vulnerable families,” Lamothe said. “We want to empower these poor families so that they may cultivate and produce their own food,” explained Lamothe.

Lamothe, Mattarollo and the Argentine Ambassador to Haiti, Marcelo Raul Sebaste, signed on Thursday an agreement to help fund the poor family support program.

Ambassador Sebaste said Argentina is pleased to help Haitian vulnerable families to find a way out of hunger by producing their own food.

Share:

Author: `