$1.4 Million Granted for Food Security in Haiti
26 May 2017
Patrice Dion is collaborating on an emergency response project aiming to produce sorghum seeds able to withstand the yellow aphid.
Professor Dion, a professor in the Plant Science Department, and the Chibas-Haiti Foundation recently received a $1.4 million grant from Global Affairs Canada to lead an emergency project in response to the spread of the yellow aphid in Haiti. The announcement was made on May 4 at Bas Boen in Haiti, in the presence of Jovenel Moïse, president of the Republic of Haiti, Carmel André Beliard, the minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development in Haiti, and Paula Caldwell St-Onge, the Canadian ambassador in Haiti. The yellow aphid Melanaphis sacchari is a sorghum pest as well as a viral vector in sugarcane.
Professor Dion, a professor in the Plant Science Department, and the Chibas-Haiti Foundation recently received a $1.4 million grant from Global Affairs Canada to lead an emergency project in response to the spread of the yellow aphid in Haiti.
The announcement was made on May 4 at Bas Boen in Haiti, in the presence of Jovenel Moïse, president of the Republic of Haiti, Carmel André Beliard, the minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development in Haiti, and Paula Caldwell St-Onge, the Canadian ambassador in Haiti.
The yellow aphid Melanaphis sacchari is a sorghum pest as well as a viral vector in sugarcane.
"It first appeared in Haiti in 2015 and since then it has spread to every region of the country," explains Patrice Dion. "The local varieties of sorghum are very sensitive to these insect attacks." Last September, Haiti called upon Canada to organize the fight against this insect that is threatening food security for the Haitian population.
Last September, Haiti called upon Canada to organize the fight against this insect that is threatening food security for the Haitian population.
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