Agriculture Minister Thomas Jacques Promotes Banana Production

At this year's World Food Day in Haiti the theme was "Sustainable food systems at the service of food security and nutrition". Minister of Agriculture, Thomas Jacques, spoke on banana production, which has declined noticeably within the last two decades. The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture issued a report, citing banana production was under 450,000 metric tons by 2009. In 1999 banana production was 600,000 metric tons.

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Bananas are one of the largest-volume exports Haiti has had in the past, and Jacques hopes for resurgence in banana production and consumption in the future. With funds available to up banana production, employment opportunities would increase and food insufficiency decrease.

Jacques urged banana growers to raise banana production, and for Haitians to purchase and use them in their children's diets. He encouraged World Food Day participants to attend the banana exhibition and learn how this food source can be used.

Jacques' promotion of the banana as a nutritional food source, adaptable to many kinds of culinary forms, is a positive affirmation, and reflects the 21st century emphasis on healthy eating. But Jacques' remarks to banana farmers could only have been frustrating. Farmers in Haiti deal with adverse conditions to produce crop yields: deforestation, soil erosion, inadequate irrigation, and crop diseases are some. Food aid and subsidized food imports also discourage banana production.

The best place in Haiti for banana production is Arcahaie, where farmers have learned how to produce a larger volume of bananas than other banana farmers in Haiti.

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Read more: protest, Agriculture, Banana, Thomas Jacques, Arcahaie, Plantain, Agriculture and Food

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