New Agriculture Export Opportunities for Belize as Agriculture Minister Jose Abelardo Mai Leads Delegation to Mexico

Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Hon. Jose Abelardo Mai and a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise return to Belize today after having a very successful meetings in Mexico on opportunities expected for new agriculture export.

During the visit, the Belize delegation met with Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Victor Villalobos Arambula, the Director and senior staff of the National Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality Service (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad – SENASICA), and representatives from Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Trade. Resulting from the meetings is Mexico’s commitment to continue facilitating the smooth export of beef cattle and to provide full support for the resumption of shrimp exports from Belize to Mexico. In addition, a new opportunity for Belize to export de-husked green coconuts was approved and the procedure to prepare protocols for the export of soybean and soybean meal was put into motion.

The success of the ongoing bilateral agricultural cooperation between Mexico and Belize focusing on soursop, pitahaya, dragon fruit, soybean and coconut was also discussed and both Minister Mai and Secretary Villalobos committed to continue strengthening the agriculture cooperation program between the two countries.

Accompanying Minister Mai to Mexico City were Chief Executive Officer, Servulo Baeza; Managing Director of BAHA, Ms. Zoe Zetina; Director of Plant Health at BAHA, Francisco Gutierrez; and Chairman of BAHA Board of Directors and Programme Director for Diversification in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Hugh O’Brien.

The Belize delegation left Belize on Monday, June 12th, 2023, and returned on Wednesday, June 14th, 2023.

 

 

Value Chain Action Plan Development for Coconut Pitahaya and Potato

The Ministry of Agriculture is hosting today, a two-day training workshop to develop specific action plan and pilot projects to improve the Value Chain for Coconut, Pitahaya and Potato. The workshop is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency under the Advisory Services for improving Agricultural Value Chain in the with/Post COVID-19 Society in Belize.
The objective of the workshop is to share the result of the value chain survey and develop the action plans using the SWOT analysis module and project selection base on the evaluation criteria.
The event is being attended by technical Officers from the Ministry of Agriculture, Lecturers from the University of Belize, Financial Institutions, Processors, farmers, Wholesalers and Retailer and other Agriculture Organization. Facilitating the training are consultants from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Handing Over of Kitchen Items to Saint Martin Government School

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise handed over today Kitchen items to the St. Martin’s Gov’t School in Belmopan valued a total of $7500 USD. The items will be used for the school newly refurbished Kitchen, through which will provide healthy and nutritious meals to its students.
The successful event comes under the Mesoamerica Hunger Free AMEXCID-FAO Project. A south-south triangular cooperation initiative jointly led by the Government of Mexico, through the Mexican Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AMEXCID), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Programme works closely with institutions of Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Present at the event were Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative, Hon. Oscar Mira Area Representative and Minister of State in the Ministry of National Defense & Border Security, Director General for Projects Execution Abroad of AMEXCID Ms. Gloria Sandoval, Mexican Ambassador H.E Martha Zamaripa, and other Invited Guests.

Review and Update the Avian Influenza Emergency Preparedness and Response Policy Plan

Representatives from the Belize Poultry Association’s Poultry Health Committee (representation from each commercial sector) are meeting this morning with technical personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture, BAHA, IICA and OIRSA to review and update the Avian Influenza Emergency Preparedness and Response Policy Plan to be prepared in the event of an incursion of Avian Influenza into Belize.
The expected outcome of the meeting is for all poultry key stakeholders and producers to agree on implementing the biosecurity practices stipulated in the comprehensive plan. The meeting is being held at Belmopan at the Quality Poultry Conference Room. Belize remains free of Avian Influenza through rigorous surveillance and strengthened biosecurity even though it has been detected in the region.
H5N1, also known as bird flu, is a highly infectious and contagious disease affecting birds and mammals inclusive of humans. It can present with high mortality, severe respiratory, nervous and digestive disease in birds. Overall, the goal is to maintain Belize free of AI by implementing the One Health approach.

Sheep Management and Lamb Culinary Workshop

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise (MAFSE), in collaboration with the Taiwan ICDF Breeding Sheep and Goat Production and Guidance System Enhancement Project (Sheep Project Phase II), held a Sheep Management & Lamb Culinary workshop at Paraiso Village in the Corozal District on June 7th, 2023.
Twenty-five sheep and goat farmers, butchers and restaurateurs around the Corozal District participated in the workshop, in which two officers from the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFSE), Mr. Andrew Mejia and Mr. Frank Padron, presented on topics including a sheep traceability system and lamb culinary skills. The Taiwan ICDF Project Specialist, Mr. Eason Huang, assistant technician, Mr. Ken Wu and Mr. Jimmy Hsu, and the Project’s field manager Mr. Istvan Metzger presented on topics including: i) animal nutrition, ii) animal health, iii) animal selection, and iv) silage preparation.
During the afternoon session, Mr. Ken Wu and Mr. Jimmy Hsu along with Mr. Istvan Metzger demonstrated practical skills of sheep management including i) Famacha system demonstration, ii) sheep selection exercise, and iii) body condition score practice, to farmers.
The workshop is another commitment of the Sheep Project Phase II to help local farmers in Belize. The Governments of Belize and the Republic of China (Taiwan) are committed to working together to support Belizean farmers and strengthen the sheep and goat industry within the country. Through the Sheep and Goat Project, the theoretical and practical trainings and educational outreach will further help advance the welfare of Belizean people.

MAFSE Delegation Visits Zamorano University in Honduras

A delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture is accompanying Minister Jose Abelardo Mai, on an officials visit to Honduras. The visit comes through a planning collaboration with OIRSA and the Zamoran University. The delegation will visit a cardamom cultivation facility in Cofradia, a meat processing facility and a sweet potato field in Comayagua, followed by the visit at the Zamorano University in San Pedro Sula.
The purpose of the visit is to establish working relations between the Zamorano institution and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise. The Zamorano University is a well reputed agriculture university in Central America. The delegation is expected to return back on Friday, 9th of June.
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Monitoring and Evaluation Training

A total of thirty-two participants successfully completed a five-day training course on Monitoring and Evaluation of projects. The training, which was organized by the Climate Resilience and Sustainable Agriculture Project (CRESAP) was facilitated by Dr. Andrea Pozza, an M&E expert from Italy.
Participating in the training were personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture, DFC, LICU, PCB, MED, CARDI, SIRDI, FAO, BLPA, Agro-Met Service, IICA and BMDC. Participants are now expected to be able to improve their knowledge of M&E and adopt the key tools provided in the training. This will enhance monitoring of progress in projects particularly of the CRESAP project, a BZD 50 million project set to benefit 7,000 Belizean households. Other training activities are scheduled for the future.

MAFSE Annual General Meeting

The Ministry of Agriculture successfully completed today its two day Annual General Meeting held at Sandy Beach Women’s Co-operative in Hopkins Village, Stann Creek.
The first day focused on presentations that show cased the achievements, challenges and future plans from the various units in the Agriculture, and Cooperative Department.
The second day focused on presentations from various organizations and Partners in Development on the collaboration and the important role they play in the Agriculture Sector.
The event finalized with panel discussions that had participation from financial institutions, agriculture enterprises and environmental NGO’s.
The recommendations provided will serve as a guide to work on the weaknesses and chart a way forward for the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise also appreciates the partnership with BMDC, OIRSA and Samsung/ Cellular World for the AGM. Thanks for supporting agriculture.

Belize Dairy Association Annual General Meeting

The Belize Dairy Association conducted their 2nd Annual General Meeting in Spanish Lookout.
The Guest Speaker at the event was Dr. Lennox Gladden, who highlighted the adaptation measures of sustainable dairy production systems.
Mr. Belarmino Esquivel, Principal Agriculture Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise elaborated on the Dairy Strategy 2022 – 2023.
A report on dairy genetic development was imparted by Mr. Frank Friessen. The Dairy Association committed to continue strengthening dairy data management and improving the genetic development through innovation and technology transfer in reproductive technology.
Other commitments agreed to included the adaptation and mitigation to climate change, implementation of tarriffs on imported dairy products, improved nutrition and animal health including traceability.

Open day at El Centro Experimental del INIFAP in Chetumal

An open day was held today at El Centro Experimental del INIFAP in Chetumal to display results of varietal trails done in Belize with soybeans and coconut. The purpose of the event was to share the results of the technical cooperation agreement between Belize and Mexico.
The objective of the agreement is to increase the productivity of soybean, soursop, coconut and pitahaya crops through the sharing of experiences, transfer of technology and building technical capacities.
A total of twenty-one capacity building events were held for farmers and technicians. The training covered courses, demonstrations and participatory workshops to strengthen the technical capacities of 593 producers and technicians.
Present at the event were Minister Jose Abelardo Mai, CEO Servulo Baeza, Mr. Hugh O’ Brien, farmers from Belize, Technical Officers from MAFSE, INIFAP Director General Dr. Luis Angel Rodriguez del Bosque and other invited guests.