Above: the IDB

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Inter-American Development has approved a $25 million grant to fund a water management programme in Haiti’s Artibonite basin.

The programme could reduce the amount of agricultural damages each year by around 80 percent, along with increasing the productivity of rice yield by 30 percent, according to the IDB.

The grant will focus on mitigating losses of crops, livestock and infrastructure caused by flooding, focusing on two phases: financing an adequate water management infrastructure and strengthening the current framework of water resources governance.

It will include the construction, rehabilitation or protection of farmer dams and other infrastructure.

Each year, the annual value of agricultural production in the Artibonite Valley reaches around $57 million.

The IDB will be financing the project with $25 million, with $2.5 million from Haiti, for a total of $27.5 million.

The IDB has been funding a number of water projects in Haiti in recent years, including a $36 million programme aimed at improving drinking water in Port-au-Prince.