Sustainable Food Security for Sugar Cane Cutters and their Families, Dominican Republic
Luis, project coordinator for the Food Security in the Bateyes project. Photo: SSID |
Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas (SSID)
Social Service of the Dominican Churches
Grupo de Pastores Interdenominacionales (GPI)
Group of Interdenominational Pastors
A three-year food security project in partnership with long-standing local partners, Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas and Grupo de Pastores Interdenominacionales, is benefiting 996 peasant families in 24 rural communities in Dominican Republic's Southwest. The families live on the edge of food security and are very vulnerable to natural disasters such as drought, flooding, and hurricanes. Most of the families are Haitian or of Haitian descendent, making them —- especially the school-age children —- the targets of discrimination in the Dominican Republic, and not having access to normal civic, economic, and social rights.
SSID is helping the families to improve their food security by increasing and diversifying their food production through greater access to productive lands and agricultural inputs, and better soil management and food production techniques. The families are also learning how to better market their agricultural surplus and implementing small production projects. The project is also providing the families with better access to basic education for at least 300 children and literacy programs for about 150 adults.
The main activities of the project include: provision of subsidized access to seeds and livestock, creation of community-based seed, animals, and credit banks, provision of technical assistance (both on- and off-farm) on topics of agricultural techniques, health and nutrition, education, credit management.
At the end of three years, the project's success will be measured by: 996 peasant farmers having increased their crop yields; participating families reporting no malnutrition among the children; an increase of 50 percent in the average value of produce; seed banks functioning autonomously in 15 of the communities; at least 550 peasant farmers jointly marketing part of their produce; and micro-credit loans being repaid at a rate above 90 percent.
Funding partners: Church World Service and the Presbyterian Hunger Program.
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