PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Monday said that it had launched a scheme that will allow at least 600 Haitians to clear irrigation canals in a bid to save this season’s bean and maize crops.

Haiti is recovering from the January 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people and also left more than one million homeless.

The FAO said it is providing a small payment for each worker as well as hand tools for the task that will remain the property of farmer’s organizations in the rural areas near Léogâne, the coastal city at the epicentre of the quake.

“For the farmers around Léogâne the earthquake could not have come at a worse time,” said FAO Emergency Coordinator in Haiti, Alex Jones.

“Damage to irrigation works threatens their current crops not yet harvested, while breakdowns in the supply of seed and fertilizer inputs may limit planting in the main spring agricultural season.”

An early FAO assessment in the agricultural area around the Haitian farming town that was almost completely destroyed found that earthquake debris and subsequent landslides had blocked canals threatening crops that were just weeks away from being ready to harvest.

Further inspection found that there had been substantial damage to vital infrastructure such as canals and feeder roads in and around Léogâne, which has an estimated 80 per cent of its buildings destroyed.

The FAO said that the clearance operation is slated to continue for about a week, and next Monday a small team of FAO experts will start a full and accurate assessment of the damages, needs and plans for agriculture and food security rehabilitation, which will feed into the larger Post Disaster Needs Assessment, coordinated by the UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

In addition, FAO is working to secure funding to help poor Haitian farmers make the spring planting season, which accounts for 60 per cent of the country’s national harvest.