Attachments
Key Messages
- A widespread Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists due to insecurity caused by armed gang violence, which continues to disrupt the livelihoods of poor households and market supplies. Farmers, particularly agricultural workers, face below-average incomes, limiting their food consumption. Cité Soleil and very poor households in other communes in the metropolitan area, such as Croix-des-Bouquets, where violence and acute malnutrition persist, are still in Emergency (IPC Phase 4).
- Spring harvests are underway, but due to the constraints faced by farmers, notably the scarcity and, therefore, high cost of seeds, the reduction in the size of the planted area, insecurity, and the high cost of labor, production is estimated to be below average. Harvest has temporarily improved local availability and household food access, although to a limited extent compared to the average. However, gang violence is restricting the movement of goods and people, mainly market supplies, impacting the sale of these crops to the best traders in the capital. As a result, farmers are forced to sell locally despite the seasonal price decrease.
- Food prices remain atypically high, at over 80 percent compared to the three-year average, despite the seasonal price decrease for local agricultural products from the spring harvest. This atypical price rise reflects overall annual inflation, which has been upward since February, rising from 23 to 28.3 percent in May. This rise was driven by food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation, which reached 40.5 percent year-on-year (BRH).
- After several weeks of deployment of the first Kenyan police contingent of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSM), the force is not yet fully operational. In the short term, it concentrates on essential defense tasks such as securing vital infrastructure, including airports and oil terminals. Despite these tasks, the security situation remains unchanged. A recent upsurge in kidnappings has been observed, contributing to a fragile situation, particularly in the capital. Indeed, contrary to the stability observed in June, the number of violent events targeting individuals has increased by more than 22 percent, according to ACLED data. Insecurity is still mainly concentrated in the West department (Port-au-Prince, with 80 percent of its territory under the control of armed gangs) and Artibonite. The security situation remains tense, particularly in the capital's neighborhoods, characterized by frequent clashes between gangs and law enforcement agencies. These clashes continue to directly impact the normal functioning of markets and income-generating activities in these areas.
Recommended citation: FEWS NET. Haiti Key Message Update July 2024: The impact of current harvests on food consumption and prices is limited, given current socio-political and economic constraints, 2024.