Five Facts about Food Insecurity

Fact 1: Economic decline, reduced agricultural production, rising inflation, recurrent natural disasters, persistent political instability, and insecurity continue to limit populations’ access to essential commodities and contribute to worsening food security conditions in Haiti, according to a December report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. More than 4.7 million people in Haiti, or nearly half the population, are facing Crisis—IPC 3—or worse levels of acute food insecurity through February, including 19,000 people facing Catastrophe—IPC 5—conditions, according to the IPC’s October 2022 analysis.¹

Fact 2: Insufficient rainfall during the late 2022 planting season—combined with organized criminal group activity near high crop-producing areas, such as Artibonite Department’s Artibonite Valley—will likely result in below-average crop yields for the December 2022–March 2023 harvest season, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). Agricultural production is expected to be particularly poor in northern Haiti, where precipitation levels were among the lowest in the country during 2022. Overall, reduced agricultural labor activity and decreased fertile land preparation throughout Haiti in late 2022 and early 2023 will likely contribute to a below-average spring harvest—the source of approximately 60 percent of Haiti’s annual crop production—further constraining food supplies in the country, FEWS NET anticipates.¹

Fact 3: This year, UNICEF estimates more than 4 million children will need humanitarian assistance in Haiti, and among them, 778, 600 children need nutrition services. According to a nutrition assessment in Cité Soleil, an impoverished neighborhood in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, revealed that 20 percent of children under age 5 are wasted (low weight-for-height, indicative of malnutrition).²

Fact 4: On January 23, The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a disbursement of SDR 81.9 million (equivalent to US$105 million) to Haiti under the Food Shock Window of the Rapid Credit Facility. The Food Shock Window aim to help address urgent balance of payments needs related to the global food shock. In addition to the domestic factors and natural disasters, Haiti has also been hit hard by the global price shock that stems from the record price inflation and the economic spillovers from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.³ In March 2022, the FAO Food Price Index reached its highest level on record since 1990. Although it has retreated slightly since then, as of August 2022 the cereal price index is still 30% higher than before the war began.⁴

Fact 5: According to the Rapid Gender Analysis and Focus Group Discussion conducted by Plan International in Haiti, girls and women were found to receive less food than boys and men in the same household. This difference in portions was attributed to the belief that men ‘work harder’ than women. Male babies were also reported to be breastfed for a longer period of time to make them physically stronger. The report also revealed certain food restrictions and taboos around food consumption that can further exacerbate the malnutrition among girls and women. For example, pregnant women do not eat “quenepa, meat bone, malanga, wheat, annas.”⁵

References

1. USAID. (2023). Haiti – Complex Emergency – Fact Sheet #3 Fiscal Year 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/haiti-complex-emergency-fact-sheet-3-fiscal-year-fy-2023
2. UNICEF. (2023). Humanitarian Action for Children 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/humanitarian-action-children-2023-haiti
3. International Monetary Fund. (2023) IMF Executive Board Approves US$105 Million Food Shock Window to Haiti. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/01/24/imf-executive-board-approves-us-105-million-food-shock-window-to-haiti
4. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2022) The impacts and policy implications of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine on agricultural markets. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://www.oecd.org/ukraine-hub/policy-responses/the-impacts-and-policy-implications-of-russia-s-aggression-against-ukraine-on-agricultural-markets-0030a4cd/#figure-d1e360
5. Plan International. (2023). Beyond Hunger: The Gendered Impacts of The Global Hunger Crisis‎. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://reliefweb.int/report/world/beyond-hunger-gendered-impacts-global-hunger-crisis

Written by Jennifer Shu-Ping Chen