World Factbook Information on Haiti

Despite the seemingly endless bad news that comes out of Haiti, Floresta has been able to create an indigenously managed program that addresses the vicious cycle that has so many Haitians locked in poverty and despair.  

In 1995, Floresta was invited by Episcopal Priest Jean-Wilfrid Albert to provide agricultural and economic assistance to the communities in the region in which he worked, approximately 50 kilometers south of Port-au-Prince.  Floresta responded and began working in Haiti in 1997.

Since then, Floresta Haiti has grown to an active local staff of 20, and has established a program that includes training in innovative agriculture techniques, reforestation, micro-credit, discipleship and marketing assistance for a growing number of rural Haitian communities.

Floresta has empowered local communities to plant over 200,000 trees and create over 2000 compost piles, resulting in a dramatic increase in crop yields.  In addition, under the supervision of Floresta, farmers have established village banking cooperatives with credit and savings systems in 35 villages with nearly 1000 participants.

In 2007, Floresta continued to work in the mountains of Southern Haiti in the region of Gran Colline. Work also extended to the Dominican border for the second year, as Floresta Haiti staff played an instrumental role in helping to further establish their nation’s half of Floresta’s Trans Border Project.

• Participants in Floresta’s programs planted 24,318 trees in reforestation projects.
• 2,737 fruit trees were grafted.
• Credit cooperatives granted 372 new micro-enterprise loans to members, in the total amount of $43,934.
• 42 miles of anti-erosion barriers and 1,036 ravines were constructed to control soil erosion on otherwise vulnerable hillsides.
• 674 compost piles were established, providing healthy organic soil to use as fertilizer for farms and family gardens.
• Farmers were trained to vaccinate and care for 3,689 livestock.
• Together with team members from Floresta Dominican Republic, Haitian staff officially established a new project on the Dominican border, working with 135 farmers. During its pilot year, the program resulted in 128 compost piles established, 110 fruit trees grafted, 1.2 miles of soil conservation barriers constructed, and 8,277 trees planted.

 

Lifetime totals
Trees planted: 191,116
Fruit trees grafted: 10,843
Loans granted:  955