This text is part of the special International Solidarity section
In its fight against global poverty, Oxfam-Québec is actively involved in the vitality of food autonomy.
Among other initiatives intended to achieve food sovereignty, Oxfam-Québec is currently leading the Kafe Makaya project, aiming to revive coffee production in Haiti, which has experienced “an intense decline since the 1980s,” specifies Anselme Guézodjè, program manager at Oxfam. .
Funded with approximately $14 million over a five-year period by the Canadian government, the Kafe Makaya program — implemented in 2019, slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic and social instability in the country, then officially relaunched since 2021 — offers training, support and technical support to cooperatives to boost coffee production, as well as related crops.
“We have integrated the agriculture component and are setting up, in the communities we cover, fields for growing agricultural or market garden products, such as vegetables, cabbages, cassava. Producers thus take advantage of coffee growing to develop agriculture as such,” explains Mr. Guézodjè.
Climatic changes
Other Oxfam campaigns, notably in Burkina Faso and Benin, promote climate-resilient agriculture or the adaptation of small farms to climate change, which strongly affects the spontaneous rhythm of nature, everywhere on the planet. planet.
For example, Haiti was the victim of an unusual drought at the start of the year, and in June received, “catastrophically”, in the form of floods and landslides, the rain normally expected until April. . “All agricultural production was threatened, and this had an impact on harvests,” explains Anselme Guézodjè.
In Nigeria, for six years, the Oxfam organization also deployed resources stimulating not only food, but also its derivative, nutrition, with the aim of ensuring the quality of the contents of local pantries.
Single parenthood
The notion of food autonomy is also of great importance from a feminist perspective. Mr. Guézodjè reports alarming figures linked to single parenthood in Haiti, which obviously threatens the economic security and well-being at the table of the population.
“According to figures from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Women’s Rights, we are talking about 60% of families that are single parents in Haiti. It’s still pretty huge! Women thus become heads of families, because men have abandoned their families for financial reasons, illness, insecurity. It is therefore women who, in a large proportion, feed the children. »
Oxfam therefore places particular emphasis on strengthening the empowerment of women with agricultural development initiatives and income-generating activities.
“To allow children to be healthy, to go to school and to thrive in a country like Haiti,” concludes the project manager.
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