Some 1.4 million people in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, require food assistance because of widespread damage by Hurricane Matthew to supplies and crops in large swaths of the country, according to a survey by UN and Haitian agencies. In Haiti’s Department of Grande-Anse, “agriculture has been virtually wiped out,” says the UN, and “losses of subsistence crops in the Department of Sud have been nearly total.”
Along the island nation’s southern coast, “fishing activities are paralyzed due to nets, traps, boats and engines being washed away by flooding,” says the UN in an appeal for $56 million for food assistance over the next three months. Some 800,000 people “are in dire need of immediate food aid,” it says.
The strongest Atlantic hurricane in 19 years, Matthew brought devastating winds and rain to southwestern Haiti on Oct. 3. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization said it was working with Haiti’s Agriculture Ministry to help citizens restore food production. A large portion of Haiti’s rural population relies on subsistence farming. “If we don’t act now to provide them with seed, fertilizer and other materials they need, they will not be able to plant and will be faced with persisting food insecurity,” said Nathanaël Hishamunda, an FAO representative in Haiti.