Stuart Leiderman leiderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It must be that time of the year when international food-givers are
overflowing with the proverbial milk of human kindness. Either that, or
they are awash in surplus commodities and looking for places to dump them.
It ain't just peanuts...
So I'm wondering if someone could put this article into plain-English for
us? Japan is "giving" Haiti millions of dollars to "buy" rice from the
United States and Thailand that the Haitian government will then sell
somewhere to someone and, if there are profits, use them to build
high-schools? Does Haiti have to repay the Japanese for its' noblesse?
And isn't this direct competition with Haitian rice farmers?
Note, per
http://canadahaitiaction.ca/content/rice-production-and-consumption-haiti
6,700 tonnes of rice is pretty much nothing compared to the approx. two
million tonnes of rice Haitians consume annually, eighty percent of which
is imported. In 2012, Vietnam alone sold 300,000 tonnes to Haiti.
Note, BMPAD [http://www.bmpad.gouv.ht] is the same Haitian agency that
handled the Petrocaribe loans. The website explains monetization, but
only in French.
- - -
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17063-haiti-japan-evaluation-of-food-aid-and-use-of-funds.htmlHaiti
- Japan : Evaluation of food aid and use of funds
03/04/2016 09:58:17
Wednesday, the Consultative Committee, formed by Haitian and Japanese
government officials, conducted a working session around food aid KR 2014
(Kennedy Round). Discussions focused on the evaluation of the aid on food
security, on the distribution of rice, on the use of counterpart funds and
on projects funded by Japan within the framework of bilateral cooperation.
As part of the program (KR 2014), resulting from the Grant Agreement of 5
December 2014
http://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-12680-haiti-news-some-news-here-and-there.html
, Japan had made available to Haiti 410 million yen (nearly 4 million).
This fund was used to acquire approximately 6,700 metric tons of US and
Thai rice variety which under the terms of the agreement, were offered for
sale transparently in strict compliance with the internal procedures of the
Office of Monetization of Development Aid Programs (BMPAD).
Funds generated from the monetization of the rice helped fund projects
jointly approved by the two signatories, mainly in the improvement of
school infrastructure. It should note that the Charlemagne Péralte
Belladère high school was inaugurated in November 2014 and the
construction of other schools is running, including the National High
School of Thomassique and of Cerca-la-Source.
Still in the context of the Japanese cooperation, studies are underway for
the construction of three other schools: high schools du Cent
Cinquantenaire and Marie Jeanne to Port-au-Prince and Brocozelle national
high school in Saint-Marc.
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leiderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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