Haiti: Strengthening of Agriculture Public Services Project

Environmental and Social Framework

A. Introduction

  1. This environmental and social framework (ESF) outlines the approaches proposed for the mitigation of potential environmental and social impacts as a result of the implementation of the Haiti Strengthening of Agriculture Public Services Project. This ESF will be available for public consultation (in English and French) through the MARNDR’s webpage (). The ESF has been prepared in accordance with the applicable national regulations as well as theWorld Bank’s environmental and social policies (safeguard policies) applicable to all World Bank operations and designed to avoid, mitigate or minimize adverse environmental and social impacts of projects supported by the Bank.
  2. Project Description.The projectdevelopment objective (PDO) is to improve the capacity of MARNDR to deliver agriculture public services, in particular in times of crisis, through: (i) prioritization and targeting of investments in the sector; and (ii) improving[1] local agriculture support services[2].The Project is an IDA-funded Specific Investment Grant of US$5 million equivalent. Key indicators for the project would be: (i) the validation by the GTA[3] of an agriculture sector policy; (ii) the change in the number of farmers receiving local agricultural services in pilot areas; and (iii) the change in the MARNDR’snon-salary operating budget commitment rate[4]. The proposed project represents the first stage of an expected fifteen to twenty-year engagement with Haiti on the agriculture public sector reform dialogue and development. The end goal would be that the Government, through MARNDR, regain the stewardship of the public sector resources going to agriculture, fulfilling its normative and regulatory and coordinating mandate.
  1. The Project comprises three components.
  1. Component 1: Strengthening MARNDR’s Managerial Functions. This Component would finance (at the central and local level) two subcomponents:

(i) Subcomponent 1a: Sector policies and coordination.This subcomponent would finance the formulation and coordination of sector and subsector policies, the mainstreaming of environmental aspects within the agriculture sector policy, and the prioritization of investment and regulatory instruments that are today fulfilled by the MARNDR’s Direction Générale (DG) and its Planning and Studies Unit (UEP). Funds for this subcomponent will finance long and short term technical assistance, events, training, dissemination material, and web-site related expenses (equipment, software, connectivity). The main products of this subcomponent would be: (i) the dissemination of a validated agriculture sector policy; (ii) the training of staff in relevant policy issues for strengthening agriculture sector (and sub-sector) policy formulation and implementation; (iii) the establishment of a Sector Environmental Group (SEG) in the MARNDR; and (iv) the holding of duly prepared sub-sectoral meetings to foster the exchange of knowledge and agree on harmonization measures on a voluntary basis between donors, NGOs and the Government.

(ii)Subcomponent 1b: Enhancing Administrative, Human Resources and Fiduciary Capacity. This subcomponent would finance the improvement of MARNDR’s administrative, human resources, and financial capacity, including budgetary processes and procurement capacity by MARNDR’s Directorate of Administrative Affaires (DAA). Funds for this subcomponent would finance long and short term technical assistance and ICT equipment and software, training, and other inputs. Products of this subcomponent would be: (i) procedural manuals for budget preparation, procurement, and administrative procedures for MARNDR staff; (ii) improvement in check issuance, procurement processes, project M&E, and harmonization of financial nomenclature between DAA and DDF (Departmental Directorate of Finance); (iii) improvement in internal and external communications by connecting MARNDR’s staff to email; and (iv) improved human resources job profiles and job family descriptions and human resource management performance indicators.

  1. Component 2: Strengthening Farmer Extension and Support Services. This component would finance the expansion of the provision of improved agriculture support services in two pilot areas, one around the Research Center of Ferme Levy and the second one around the Research Center of Thiotte-Savane Zombi. Both pilot areas are in Southern portion of the country. Thiotte-Savane Zombi is in a predominantly mountainous and humid ecosystem, while Ferme Levy has both a mountainous and humid ecosystem (of hillside agriculture) and an irrigated valley with mainly staple and annual crop production. This Component will finance: (i) technical assistance and training for extension agents, farmers, farmer-groups and service providers (including environmental and social aspects); (ii) strengthening of local support service structures (R&D Centers and DDAs); (iii) the development of a farmer and service provider registry (including equipment and software); and (iv) incentive payments to farmers for adoption of improved agriculture technologies that are both revenue increasing and environmentally friendly. Products of this subcomponent would be: (i) creation of a farmer and service provider registry (managed by MARNDR) in both pilot areas; (ii) provision of agriculture extension services and incentive payments in the pilot areas; and (iii) completion of R&D studies by MARNDR in the pilot area.
  1. Component 3: Project coordination and supervision.This component would finance technical assistance, operational costs, and other costs necessary for project coordination.
  1. Project Location. The Project is mainly an institutional development and capacity building operation with national level impact. Component 1 will finance activities regarding institutional strengthening in the central MARNDR’s office’s in Port au Prince, while Component 2 will finance agriculture extension and farmer incentives in pilot areas. The initially identified areas are those around the R&D Centers of Levyand Thiotte. Levy is located next to the City of Les Cayesin the Southwestern peninsula of Haiti, with an area of approximately 10,000 hectares, ranging between 0 and 1400 meters of altitude. Two dry seasons can be differentiated: December-January and July-September; and two rainy seasons: February-May and October-November, with average temperatures ranging between 28o to 30o C. The region receives on average 2000-2300 mm of rain per year. Two type of crops: permanent (coffee and fruit trees) mainly in hillsides and annual/pluriannual crops (maize, petit pois, rice, cabbage, etc.) in the irrigated plains. During the last years the evolution of the productive systems is characterized by an impoverishment of agriculture diversification, weak water and soil management and important deforestation upstream. Thiotte is located in the Department of the South-East over a plain with an altitude of more than 1000 meters over sea level, receiving on average 1800 mm of rain per year. It is a region of humid mountains with three crop seasons but with weak capacity of the land to retain water which obliges the small farmers to build small reservoirs. Savane Zombi is located next to the PinesForest (Forêt des Pins), protected natural park in which a natural forest is threatened by strong pressures from small farmers. The production of vegetables (potatoes, cabbages, carrots) and livestock are the main agriculture activities in this region. The agriculture products are sold in Port-au-Prince and in Dominican Republic, where the main agriculture supplies are procured (particularly, fertilizers).
  1. Country and Sector Issues.Haiti’s social indicators are among the lowest worldwide, signaling a chronic humanitarian crisis. Some 76 percent of its population lives below the poverty line, with 56 percent in extreme poverty. On average, the per capita income in extremely poor households is a mere 44 percent of the extreme poverty line, comparable to Sub-Saharan Africa.[5] Haiti ranks 153rd (out of 177 countries) in terms of the Human Development Index. Income inequality is among the highest in the world, with the poorest 20 percent accounting for 1.5 percent of incomes and the wealthiest 20 percent accounting for 68 percent.
  1. Poverty strikes hardest in rural areas, where education and economic opportunities are limited, and basic social services and infrastructure are severely lacking. Nearly 90 percent of poor households and 67 percent of extremely poor households live in the rural areas. Basic rural infrastructure (e.g., water and irrigation, feeder roads, electricity, and sanitation) is virtually absent or severely depleted, reinforcing isolation and exclusion. According to the Household Living Conditions Survey draft report for 2003, only 11 percent of rural households have electricity, compared to 70 percent of the wealthiest quintile. These conditions compel rural-urban migration, especially into the capital, Port-au-Prince. Agriculture is still the backbone of the rural economy, generating 25% of total GDP and the main source of employment in rural areas. Exogenous shocks such as adverse natural events and commodity prices fluctuationsseverely affect the rural poor.
  1. The country’s surfaceis 80% mountainous and does not lend itself well to production of field crops (28% is arable land), with the exception of some of the large irrigated valleys. Haitiis a net importer of agricultural products, yet local production of certain food products are still internationally competitive and could be sourced locally in increasing quantities. The importance of the agriculture sector has been declining due to losses in productivity through depleted natural resources, poor know-how, political instability, natural disasters, and insufficient support policies to face the changes in relative prices (agriculture income is now 40% of rural income). However, agriculture is an important source of pro-poor growth in Haiti, and plays a dominant role in the Haitian economy, contributing 25 percent of GDP, accounting for around 50 percent of overall employment, 2/3 of employment in rural areas, and ¾ of employment for the poor. There are approximately 1 million farmers in Haiti who, in large part, live in poverty and experience various levels of food insecurity (average land holdings are less than ½ hectare), depending on monetary revenue, food subsistence and risk mitigation. Unfortunately, quality and productivity of local farming are constrained by the dominance of small-scale subsistence farms, weak or non-existent agriculture extension services, insufficiently developed food supply chains, limited access to rural credit markets, and the inability to meet increasingly important food safety standards.
  1. For the past twenty years, Haiti has struggled to emerge from a cycle of political instability and internal conflicts that has devastated its economy, further weakened state institutions, augmented poor governance practices, increased poverty and, at times, prompted the withdrawal of external assistance to the government. The political situation has become more stable since 2004 but in 2008 a combination of numerous exogenous shocks, such as adverse natural events and fluctuations in commodity prices, once more showed the country’s high vulnerability to political, economic and social crises. Over the past twelve months, Haiti experienced a significant tropical storm in 2007 (Noel) that led to flash floods and mudslides in the Western part of the country, causing 66 deaths and 14,000 displaced families. In March 2008, rising international food and oil prices caused a social crisis that triggered violent protest and the resignation of the Prime Minister in April 2008. Finally, the 2008 hurricane season brought four major storms and hurricanes (Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike), resulting in major damages to roads, bridges and crops.
  1. Environmentaland natural resource issues in the agricultural sector. The natural and agricultural ecosystems and the livelihoods of inhabitants are under threat from several sources, including deforestation, soil erosion, increased intensity and impact of flooding, and unregulated livestock gracing (85% of the watersheds are deemed degraded). Haiti’s forest cover has considerably been reduced during the last 30 years. In 1978, 60% of the country’s forest areas were converted into agriculture, pastures and urban extensions. Currently, less that 2% of Haiti’s territory can be classified as forest density areas. The potential exploitable land is of 7.700 km2 (29%) but the area effectively cultivated is about 11.900 km2 (44%). There are 420.000 hectares of marginal lands transformed into agriculture. Therefore, improvement in the management of natural resources for environmental values will be required for a sustainable development of agriculture.
  1. The main environmental issues linked to agriculture in Haiti are:(i) soil degradation, erosion, desertification due to deforestation and natural disasters; (ii) agriculture practices that are non-environmentally friendly (primary agriculture as well as processing); and (iii) lack of environmental education and awareness. The institutional weaknesses related to environmental issues at the MARNDR are: (i) very low or no mainstreaming of environmental issues in the agriculture sector policy; (ii) low capacity of MARNDR (at the central and local level) to enforce agriculture policy; (iii) low or no relationship with the local governments (municipalities, communes, etc.); and (iv) lack of institutional structure surrounding environmental issues at the national and local levels. The project will therefore seek to mainstream environmental issues in agriculture policy and investments, and in particular environmental aspects for agriculture extension services.
  1. Social issues.Poverty and inequality in Haiti largely reflects disparities in opportunities. The distribution of key productive assets— human capital, physical assets, financial assets, and social capital—is highly unequal. A society that is 95% Black and 5% White/Mulatto, these disparities are greatest between the poor and non-poor, but also are manifested by geographic region, gender and age. Poverty in Haiti is highest in rural areas. Within rural communities female-headed households are more likely to experience poverty than male-headed household and young households/household heads are more likely to be poor than older households/household heads. Men and women have distinct household and agricultural roles and addressing economic activities that fall within the domain of women through men can eliminate women from decision-making and economic control. In addition, while 80 percent of rural households have access to land and 70 percent cultivate land, the majority of landholders (78%) only have up to 2 hectares and income poverty is the highest (64%) among households with .5 hectares or less. Even with the poverty risks associated with rural Haiti, the presence of social capital in these communities is recognized as protecting against poverty to a statistically significant degree, which is not true for Haiti’s urban centers.
  1. In this context, key social issues related to agriculture are: (i) access to resources, including land and skills, (ii) gender and youth as related to agricultural responsibilities, decision-making and economic control, and (iii) the role of agricultural and production cooperatives in building and maintaining social capital. Given that currently MARNDR has minimally addressed social, particularly gender-related, concerns through agricultural and rural policy and investments, the project will seek to better mainstream these issues and address this institutional weakness.

B. Project Environmental Risks and Benefits

  1. The Project will have no negative environmental impacts or little potential negative environmental impacts. Neither large scale nor cumulative impacts are expected given the nature of the Project, mainly an institutional development operation that will mainstream environmental-friendly principles into agriculture sector policies and instruments (Component 1) and pilot incentive mechanisms for introducing environmental-friendly agriculture practices through strengthened agriculture extension services (Component 2). Nevertheless, key safeguard policy issues assessed in this Project relate to compliance with: a) WB’s environmental policy (OP/BP 4.01); b) WB’s pest management policy (OP 4.09); and c) WB’s forest policy, all in connection with the relevant oversight of the application of farmer incentive mechanisms for adoption of environmentally friendly agriculture technologies and best practices in two pilot areas (funded by Component 2 of the Project).
  2. Component1: Activities under this Component will have no negative environmental impacts. On the contrary, activities under this Component will have positive environmental impacts as they will contribute to mainstream environmental-friendly principles into agriculture sector policies and instruments, and will strengthen the MARNDR’s capacity (at the central and deconcentrated levels) to manage agriculture public services, including the set up of a technical sector environmental group (SEG) within the MARNDR. The SEG will assume the responsibilities of the UTES (Technical Sector Environmental Unit) established by Decree of January 26, 2006 that defines the national environmental management policy, regulates the behavior of Haitians for a sustainable development, and provides for the institutional framework for the environmental management (see paragraph 13.)
  3. Component 2: Activities under this Component will have limited potential for negative environmental impacts. This Component would finance the expansion of the provision of improved agriculture extension services in two pilot areas, one around the Research Center of Levyand the second one around the Research Center of Thiotte-Savane Zombi. Both pilot areas in the eastern portion of the country are predominantly coffee and agro forestry regions. Component 2 will contribute with: (i) technical assistance and training for extension agents and service providers (including environmental and social aspects); (ii) training for producers and producer groups (including environmental and social aspects); (iii) the development of a farmer and service provider registry; and (iv) incentive payments to producers for adoption of agriculture technologies that are both revenue increasing and environmental-friendly.
  4. Environmental Safeguards. The Project has been designed and will be implemented in accordance with the World Bank environmental and social safeguards, designed to avoid, mitigate or minimize adverse environmental and social impacts of projects supported by the Bank. In accordance with Bank policy, the project has been assigned an environmental risk category B to reflect possible impacts associated with pesticide use and to reflect risks associated with the environmental context of the project. Adverse impacts, if any, are expected to be small scale, temporary in nature and manageable with known environmental management techniques.