Project Areas: Caribbean: Haiti: S.E.E.D. Ministries
S.E.E.D. Ministries is an agricultural institute in Les Cayes, Haiti, founded in 1992 by Frantz Clotaire, a Haitian Christian who was born in Haiti, received Bible & agronomy training in the United States, and went back in 1992 to start this training & out-reach program.
- Program Mission
The mission of the program is to train motivated people to help this land of malnourished people raise more and improved vegetable, fruit, and forage crops, and to raise better livestock. Another mission is to train these students in understanding God's Word.
The school offers training to qualified high school graduates in many phases of tropical agriculture, including agronomy, soil science, vegetable production, forestry, animal science, & veterinary technician training. The school also trains the students in the Bible. A 
well-educated and highly motivated staff conducts the schooling. There are classes for the first 2 years of the program on the school site in a recently built classroom building. The third year students are each placed in an out-lying community for a nine-month period, which is called the "extension program". For this extension program year, they are given a plot of land by a local church to plant a demonstration garden, teach the local farmers improved vegetable and crop production, treat ill livestock, and put to practical use all the skills they have learned in the previous two years of training. They are to keep careful records of all their work, and an instructor visits each student on a monthly basis.
The S.E.E.D. farm is comprised of approximately 25 acres of fertile flat land near the southwestern shore of Haiti. The land had been overused for rice production prior to its use by S.E.E.D. A portion of the farm is used as "student plots" by the 1st & 2nd year students. Many mornings find the students arriving at sun-up to plant or tend their plots. The farm is also used for vegetable and fruit production, with produce being sold in wholesale and retail trade to local venders. Part of the farm is used for grazing goats and cattle, and an area on the school grounds (across the road from the farm), contains a poultry raising facility. The farm is also used as a research site, with new varieties of vegetables, corn, soybeans, and tropical forages being tested.
The organization of the institute includes an American board of directors for oversight and fund raising. The Haitian administration includes a Director, Administrative Assistant, Secretary, Accountant, and several teachers most of whom have advanced college training. S.E.E.D. Ministries has no specific church denomination affiliation.
- World Relief Involvement
The World Relief of the Apostolic Christian Church of America has supported S.E.E.D. Ministries since 1995. Our first support was financial support for the teaching of the third year extension program, which consisted of $2,000.00 per year. Since 1995, the financial support has increased, and has included supporting the extension program entirely, supporting animal science and veterinary medical training, helping build some school buildings, and funding a graduate loan program.
In 1997, an "agricultural work team" was sent to help S.E.E.D. build a new school building, set up a poultry raising operation, treat ill livestock, and teach animal science classes. Each year since then World Relief has sent one or two work teams to help the school in construction and teaching. We have found these work team efforts have been very worthwhile, especially for the many brethren and friends who have participated.
We are excited to see the progress made to the school facilities and the enthusiasm of the students and are pleased to see that the training has had an impact on the nutritional needs of the Haitians. We are humbled to be the ones who learn that one's faith in God can survive, and even flourish, in the midst of want and poverty.