The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization is calling for urgent funding to address food insecurity in Haiti.

This week, Director of FAO’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience, Rein Paulsen and FAO’s Subregional Coordinator for Mesoamerica, Adoniram Sanches, visited Haiti to support the incoming FAO Representative, Pierre Vauthier.

FAO officials met with Prime Minister Garry Conille, Agriculture Minister Vernet Joseph and Environment Minister Moïse Fils Jean Pierre.

They met with representatives from USAID, the World Bank, the European Union, and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, as well as other UN agencies and programmes.

In a media release today, the FAO says, since February 2024, increasing violence and population displacements have reduced agricultural production and disrupted markets.

This, it adds, has left half of Haiti’s population in acute hunger.

It is calling on the international community to secure US$48 million under the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan, to assist 608,000 people with emergency agriculture activities.