Haiti school feeding program prioritizes local agricultural products

The National School Canteen Program (PNCS) in Haiti is working to transform school meals into an economic driver for local farmers. A delegation including PNCS coordinator Lucson Philemond, French Ambassador Gauthier Lekens, and World Food Programme (WFP) Director Lauren Landis recently visited the Organisation pour la réhabilitation de l’environnement (ORE) in Camp-Perrin.

During the visit, ORE Director General Patrick Condé demonstrated the organization’s agricultural production and processing infrastructure, specifically focusing on corn transformation. For the 2026-2027 academic year, the collaboration is expected to involve more than $700,000 USD in local products supplied to schools across the Nippes, Sud, Grand'Anse, and Pailles departments.

This initiative follows an in-kind donation agreement signed between the PNCS and the French Embassy on September 15, 2026. The goal is to create stable markets for local producers and processors rather than treating school canteens as simple meal distribution points.

Additionally, a PNCS delegation traveled to Burundi from October 4 to 10, 2026, to study successful local-purchase models. The mission included visits to the Terimbere cooperative and Kagwema 1 Primary School to observe best practices in production, milling, storage, and delivery that could be implemented in Haiti.