MFK is proud to announce that 59 farmers have graduated from our Farmer Training program and joined our farmer network on January 30th. These farmers from the northeast of Haiti completed 5 months of training and workshops, taking place from August 2021 to January 2022. The training program covers a wide variety of topics which include soil preparation, peanut disease, soil conservation, drying and storage, and irrigation. The main objective of the program is to provide the basic training to equip peanut farmers to increase their production and produce better quality peanuts.
The graduation ceremony was held in Ouanaminthe. It was a great time for the farmers, their guests, and government representatives who attended to recognize the hard work these resilient farmers. In his short talk, MFK Agronomist and Agricultural Program Manager, James Blanc, encouraged the graduates to become disciples in applying the methodologies learned during their 5 months of training. He reassured the graduates that MFK will always be by their side to support them. “MFK will always be in these communities. It’s the end of the training, not the end of MFK’s relationship with you because MFK already considers you as 59 new members of the MFK’s farmer network,” Blanc concluded.
Mr. Eliphete Augustin, who spoke on behalf of the group from Welsh, thanked MFK for the training provided and promised to apply skills and techniques learned during the training in order to increase their production, provide a better quality of peanuts and eventually increase their income. Eliphete believes that the training will help them sell more peanuts to MFK and in return, MFK will be able to save more lives of malnourished kids. Mrs. Marie Fils-Aime, who spoke on behalf of the group from Savane Longue, expressed her gratitude for being able to attend this training, stating that she believes the training will help them in their future farming activities.
After the ceremony, some of the graduates proudly exhibited their other talents in song and dance. Each of the participants in the program also received a certificate that recognizes their participation in the training program, a tarp to dry their peanuts, a dozen of mesh bags to better store their peanuts, and a book that covers all the topics learned in class.
MFK is proud to welcome the group of 59 farmers to their farmers’ network. This training would not been possible without the help of MFK’s donors. We thank everyone for their involvement in making this program successful.
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