Rural Development in Haiti

The objective of this report is to
examine the linkages between rural economic activity, food
insecurity and poverty in Haiti as a means of determining
the barriers to rural development. The analysis draws on a
newly available set of house-hold level living standards
measurement data collected in 2012 (ECVMAS). About 70.7
percent of all rural households are poor, and education
levels are low with an average of 2.8 years of education for
the household head. Agriculture dominates economic activity
(78 percent of all households are involved in agricultural
activities), although almost 25 percent of the agricultural
households supplement their agricultural income by engaging
also in some type of nonfarm activity. Overall nonfarm
activity participation (including households that engage in
agricultural activities and households that do not) is
reported at 46 percent. Nonfarm activities can be related to
agriculture upstream (input supply) or downstream
(value-adding and processing), or they can be unrelated to
the sector (retailing). This report identifies the main
factors of production that correlate with increased
productivity in the agricultural sector and examines the
determinants of nonfarm participation, poverty and food
security within rural Haiti. The information and analysis
presented in this report point to two priority areas for
rural development interventions in Haiti: (i) promoting
diversification of livelihoods sources among rural
households, and (ii) improving the performance of rural
markets for inputs and outputs.