Above: Haiti Agriculture Minister Thomas Jacques and US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (Photo: USDA)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
United States Agriculture Secretary met Monday with Haiti Agriculture Minister Thomas Jacques for talks in Washington.
The talks included food security, trade and a presentation on a project by the US Department of Agriculture to improve market information systems in Haiti, according to a government release.
Jacques is currently on a week-long trip to the United States for meetings with US agencies, joined by officials from Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Brazil is currently working on a project to provide support for cotton farmers in Haiti as part of an agreement with the United Nations.
Haiti’s agriculture sector was hit hard by a pair of hurricanes in the summer of 2012, which reportedly destroyed 70 percent of the country’s crops.