ORGANIZATION FOR THE REHABILITATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Tree programs
ORE's tree programs have given farmers in Haiti an alternative to deforestation and soil erosion. High value mango, avocado and citrus trees provide a solid income to farmers, and stabilize the environment. Grafting makes it possible to clone commercial varieties and promote large-scale production and marketing.

Quality Protein Maize
ORE is currently producing a high-protein, high-yielding variety of corn to help alleviate malnutrition in Haiti. Quality protein maize, or "QPM", originally developed at CIMMYT in Mexico in the late 1990s, contains nearly twice as much usable protein as other maize grown in the tropics and yields substantially more grain than traditional corn. The benefits of this miraculous corn are becoming more widely known.

Regenerating Plantain and Banana Production
The plantain and banana program is designed to address food security issues in Haiti resulting from the current world food crisis and to regenerate production which has been decimated by the black Sigatoka fungal disease. This epidemic disease has virtually wiped out the bananas (a major element of the Haitian diet) grown by subsistence farmers for the domestic market. In today's volatile climate of increasing distress due to the rising cost of importing basic foods, restoring the country's production of this most valuable food crop to its full capacity is absolutely critical.

Vitamin-rich Sweet Potato
ORE is producing vitamin-A rich yellow fleshed variety of sweet potato to help alleviate malnutrition in Haiti. Sweet potato is a key staple food in the Haitian diet and the 'orange flesh sweet potatoes' is very rich in vitamin A, compared the local varieties. Yields from the new varieties are substantially higher than from traditional sweet potatoes which translates into higher income of farmers. Since 2003 ORE has been working collaborating with CIP, a international research centre and participating in AGROSALUD, the regional bio-fortified food program.