Key Message Update: The impact of current harvests on food consumption and prices is limited, given current socio-political and economic constraints

This Key Message Update covers July 2024. Widespread Crisis (IPC Phase 3) persists because armed gang violence continues to disrupt poor households' livelihoods and market supplies. Farmers, and agricultural labourers in particular, face below-average incomes that limit their food consumption. Cité Soleil and very poor households in other metropolitan communes such as Croix-des-Bouquets, where violence and acute malnutrition persist, remain in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). Spring harvests are under way but production is estimated below average because of scarce and therefore expensive seed, reduced planted area, insecurity and high labor costs.

The harvest has temporarily improved local availability and household access, though to a limited extent against the average, and gang violence restricting the movement of goods and people, mainly market supplies, prevents farmers from selling to the best traders in the capital, forcing local sales despite the seasonal price decrease. Food prices remain atypically high at more than 80 percent above the three-year average despite that seasonal fall in local produce, reflecting overall annual inflation that has risen since February from 23 to 28.3 percent in May, driven by food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation of 40.5 percent year-on-year according to the Banque de la République d'Haïti.

After several weeks of deployment, the first Kenyan police contingent of the Multinational Security Support Mission is not yet fully operational and is concentrating on essential defensive tasks such as securing vital infrastructure including airports and oil terminals; the security situation remains unchanged, with a recent upsurge in kidnappings. Contrary to the stability observed in June, ACLED data show violent events targeting individuals up by more than 22 percent. Insecurity remains concentrated in Ouest, where 80 percent of Port-au-Prince's territory is under armed gang control, and in Artibonite, with frequent clashes between gangs and law enforcement continuing to disrupt markets and income-generating activities.