Bill Clinton, Canadian philanthropist launch peanut supply chain in Haiti

TIERRA MUSCADY, Haiti – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Sunday toured a peanut depot in central Haiti that’s part of a new enterprise aimed at helping roughly 12,000 small farmers.

Clinton visited the site in Haiti’s Central Plateau with Canadian philanthropist Frank Giustra, a mining mogul who also founded Lions Gate Entertainment. The pair announced the launch of the Acceso Peanut Enterprise Corporation at the storage and service depot in Tierra Muscady.

It’s one of a network of depots in central and northern Haiti designed to provide storage, a market, training, and supplies for peanut farmers. Five of 35 planned peanut depots are now open.

Clinton said the idea is to “empower farmers to meet the nutritional needs of people.” His Clinton Foundation said the enterprise will help improve peanut yields in Haiti in coming years and increase income for farmers.

The project has potential to “scale up Haiti’s peanut supply chain to meet the growing regional demand for peanuts without relying on imports,” Giustra said.

Peanuts will be sold to regional buyers including the non-profit Partners in Health, which last year partnered with a health care company to open a factory in Haiti’s Central Plateau to produce a peanut-based nutritional supplement for children with severe malnutrition.