French encouraging local food production in Haiti to tackle shortages

1. Various of street market in Port-au-Prince 2. Mid of Dominique Delpuech, the French Embassy Charge d'Affaires in Port-au-Prince, taking his seat in conference room 3. SOUNDBITE (French) Dominique Delpuech, French Embassy Charge d'Affaires: "We estimate that in 2013, six million people are in a situation of food insecurity in Haiti. Of those, 1.3 million people are in a severe situation of food insecurity." 4. Wide of news conference 5. SOUNDBITE (French) Dominique Delpuech, French Embassy Charge d'Affaires: "We will then inject 13 million euros (16.9 million US dollars) for buying products like corn in the north and rice in Arbonite (region of Haiti). We also spent 7.5 million euros (9.8 million US dollars) to support the production of corn and eggs in Les Cayes in the south, on bananas and finally we are injecting eight million euros (10.4 million US dollars) to support the programme for diverse school meals." 6. Various of vendors and products at market, many of which are imported STORYLINE: A French diplomat in Haiti is encouraging local production to help develop the Caribbean nation's agriculture sector and stem the growing problem of malnutrition. Dominique Delpuech of the French Embassy in Port-au-Prince, said on Monday that the idea would boost income for farmers, who work in the country's fragile agriculture sector. Experts say that improving the outlook for farmers will help ordinary Haitians raise their standard of nutrition. "We estimate that in 2013, six million people are in a situation of food insecurity in Haiti. Of those, 1.3 million people are in a severe situation of food insecurity," said French Embassy Charge d'Affaires, Dominique Delpuech at a news conference in Port-au-Prince. France says it has contributed more than 30 million euros (39 million US dollars) to improve food availability in Haiti since 2005. The United Nations said this month that at least one in five households faces a serious food deficit and acute malnutrition despite efforts elsewhere to reduce hunger. The fears come after an especially active storm season last autumn caused widespread flooding in Haiti's south and damaged critical crops. A drought in the north also killed crops. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1b8c490db3a4369234d323ede84133b3 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork