Haitians carry the body of a flood victim in the town of Gonaives September 20, 2008. Haiti has been blasted by four storms – Hurricanes Gustav and Ike and Tropical Storms Fay and Hanna – since mid-August, killing hundreds and destroying homes and crops. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (HAITI)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Four tropical storms have wiped out most of Haiti’s food crops and damaged irrigation systems and pumping stations, raising the specter of acute hunger for millions in the impoverished country.
“The system of agriculture has been destroyed,” Agriculture Minister Joanas Gue told the Associated Press.
Aid agencies and diplomats also say Haiti desperately needs help to avert mass hunger.
Emergency aid has flowed in to people directly affected by Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike, storms that triggered flooding and killed at least 425 people in less than a month, including 194 in the critical rice-growing Artibonite Valley.
But a U. N. fundraising appeal has raised less than 2 percent of a critically needed $108 million, said Stephanie Bunker, U. N. spokeswoman.
And much, much more is needed, with farms damaged or destroyed across the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
“This will take billions of dollars,” said Henrietta Fore, administrator of the U. S. Agency for International Development.
Source: BuffaloNews.Com
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