Mission of Hope (MOH) in Haiti announced the first large-scale packaging of commodities purchased from Haitian farmers to feed children in local schools and orphanages. More than 8,000 pounds of beans and 22,000 pounds of rice were recently purchased from Haitian farmers and packaged into meals in the MOH warehouse in Titanyen.
Buying from local farmers is an important milestone in MOH's agronomy program, which began two years ago with education and seed distribution for 2,300 farmers in Turpin, Thomazeu, Bercy, and Z'Orange. MOH plans to purchase 1.5 million meals worth of commodities in Haiti this year.
"For the first time, we are growing food in Haiti, purchasing food in Haiti, packing food in Haiti, and then using it to feed students and orphans in need," says Brad Johnson, president of Mission of Hope. "We project locally grown crops will replace half the meals we currently ship in from the U.S. for our nutrition program."
The agriculture and meal packaging initiatives are supported by Convoy of Hope and Feed My Starving Children, two strategic partners of MOH. Convoy of Hope provided expertise and resources in agronomy, leading to a 250 percent increase in yield and an 80 percent increase in income for participating farmers. "It's exciting to see these 'first fruits' from our work with the Haitian farmers," says Dr. Jason Streubel, agriculture specialist with Convoy of Hope. "We are seeing the land redeemed and tremendous potential efficiently growing commodities in Haiti."
Feed My Starving Children has donated 228 million MannaPackTM meals to missions in Haiti since 2006, including MOH. The hunger charity provided equipment and operations know-how to launch the recent MOH packaging initiative. "Seeing Haitian farmers develop sustainable food supplies is a complementary next step to the food we've been donating," says Matt Muraski, director of international programs at Feed My Starving Children. "We're excited to support Mission of Hope in these initiatives."
