Soursop Cultivation and Management Workshop in Belize District

Soursop Cultivation and Management Workshop in Belize District

Thirty-five farmers, including potential investors and new farmers from various communities of the Belize District attended a one day theoretical and practical training in soursop cultivation and management.  The training was facilitated by FAO consultant Dr. Abel Rebocaus an agronomist from Brazil who holds a doctorate from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil in Tropical Fruits with concentration in citrus, mangos, passion fruit, soursop, papaya, avocado and coconut.

The event was held at Ayinha Farms in Lemonal Village where present was Hon. Jose Mai, who stressed on the importance of trainings to build capacity of producers as well expanding production and building a subsector guided by policies in ensuring to meet export requirements and future trade of tropical fresh fruits including soursop, pitahaya, pineapple, and citrus.

Safety Measures Advisory for Farmers in Flood Prone Areas

Safety Measures Advisory for Farmers in Flood Prone Areas
October 12, 2022:
To mitigate the potential effects of Tropical Storm Julia, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise hereby advises all farmers who are in low-lying and flood-prone areas to safeguard their families and livelihoods as needed.
All farmers are advised to observe the following measures:
· Crop producers are advised to
– harvest available and mature crops
– make a note of all crops planted and production amounts
– store harvested crops in cool, dry areas to avoid spoilage or losses
· Producers with tropical greenhouses or cover structures are asked to
– remove covering materials (UV plastic and anti-viral netting)
– safely store equipment and supplies
– make a note of all crops planted and production amounts, including taking pictures of the structure(s)
· Livestock producers are advised to
– temporarily relocate animals to safer areas
– ensure availability of animal feed and water
– make a count of all animals
· Farm inputs
– secure all farm machinery and farm inputs
– relocate all pesticides and pesticide containers to avoid spillage and contamination

CRESAP REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Online course on Digital Promotion Tools

An Online course on Digital Promotion Tools was conducted during the months of April and May 2022. The workshop aimed to provide young people from the rural communities with basic knowledge on production and editing of audio-visual material to enable them to promote rural agribusiness, tourism, or agrotourism products and services.
Participants were selected in collaboration with partners Ya’axche Conservation Trust, San Antonio Women’s Cooperative and Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development.
The course was delivered by professors from the Universidad de Chile, Universidad Mayor and Universidad ARCIS, with experience in the production of audio-visual content.
As a final product of the training participants produced audio-visual materials (Videos) to promote the products and services offered by agritourism experiences in their communities.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean through its Regional initiative “1000 Digital Villages in LAC”, seeks to promote Sustainable Rural Agri Business & Tourism, using digital technologies for the management, promotion and sale of services and related products.
In November the 1000 Digital Villages initiative will host a virtual fair. Within this fair, spaces for “virtual stands” will be provided for selected participants to promote their rural tourism experiences. In the case of Belize, the “Maya cultural visit” experience has been selected to showcased and participate in a virtual stand during the fair.
Videos of Participants are as follows:
Big Falls Village : Maya Cultural Visit- Edward Bardalez
San Miguel Village: Historical and Mayan Site Tours Maya Cultural Visit- Dwayne Cus
Sarteneja: Corozal Bay Eco Adventures Eco Tourism- Ivandi Perez
Punta Gorda: Eco Toursim Belize Maya Cultural Visit -Nathaniel Castillo
Punta Gorda: Eco Toursim Belize Maya Cultural Visit -Sayuri Tzul
San Antonio Village: San Antonio womens group Maya Pottery experience-Keira Mesh
San Antonio Village: San Antonio womens group Maya Pottery experience -Cindy Coc
San Antonio: San Antonio womens group Maya Pottery experience -Sarita Mai

Council of Ministers of the CAC meets in Costa Rica to Review Progress on the Regional Action Plan

September 23, 2022:
With the participation of ministers, deputy ministers and duly accredited representatives of the 8 countries that are part of SICA, the ordinary session of the Central American Agricultural Council, CAC was held in San José, Costa Rica, in order to review progress in the implementation of regional actions to strengthen the Agricultural Sector. Representing the Ministry was Dr. Victoriano Pascual.
The session was chaired by Vice Minister Darío Vargas of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Dominican Republic, current holding pro-tempore presidency of the CAC, and with participation of the Secretary General of SICA, Werner Vargas, the Deputy Director General and regional representative of FAO for Latin America, Mario Lubetkin, and the presence of the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero.
Otero reiterated the support and accompaniment that IICA provides to the CAC to strengthen the sector “We believe in regional integration, this region is key to the future of the continent, that is why IICA will support SECAC and Central American regional policy,” declared.
Lucrecia Rodríguez, Executive Secretary of the CAC, explained that among the issues discussed at the meeting, she highlighted good practices in the use of biofertilizers, the availability of fertilizer inputs, and the viability of a regional program for joint negotiation for the purchase of fertilizers. In this space, Secretary General Vargas participated together with Pilar Alfredo Lagos from SE-COMISCA SICA and Olga del Pino, from the Spain-SICA Fund, presenting the regional experience in the mechanisms of negotiation and joint purchase of medicines and medical supplies. In this regard, the Council of Ministers agreed to request support from both instances to design a similar mechanism for joint purchases of fertilizers and agricultural inputs.
For his part, Julián Carrazón, Regional Agriculture Officer of the FAO Erick Quirós, regional coordinator and representative of IICA in El Salvador, gave the participants a summary of the advances in scalability and opportunities in the SICA region.
Likewise, a report was provided by the SECAC with the progress of the preparatory actions that the regional agricultural sector, together with the environment sector, are carrying out for the next COP27 conference to be held in Egypt in November 2022.
At the conclusion of the meeting, a cooperation agreement was signed between Catholic Relief Services and SECAC to strengthen technical cooperation between the two entities on issues of rural development, family farming, rural women and youth, and climate change.

Beekeeping Workshop in Peten

Extension Officer from the Ministry of Agriculture Mr. Miguel Huertas and Mr. Jesse Madrid, were both on a 2-day field visit to Peten, Guatemala, where they were on a regional exchange visit to the Sierra Lancandon National Park and the beekeeping co-operatives in the area.
This event is intended to address issues that help strengthen competencies among groups of beekeepers in the Selva Maya region, sharing beekeeping techniques and other topics such as organic beekeeping management, traceability, marketing, added value of honey and its derivative products. Participants will visit a beekeeping school and a beekeeping co-operative during their visit.
The visit was organized and coordinated by the Selva Maya project “Strengthening of Regional Strategic and Operational Cooperation for the Protection of the Selva Maya” implemented by the German Development Cooperation – GIZ and its national counterparts such as the Forest Department in Belize, CONANP, in Mexico and CONAP in Guatemala.
Attending event were also beekeepers from Orange Walk, Cayo District and Dr. Jennie Garcia Saqui, National Coordinator GIZ Selva Maya Belize Component.

Sheep Management 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 Workshop” at the Copal tree resort / sheep farm in the Toledo District on Wednesday September 28th, 2022.
Some thirty (30) sheep and goat farmers, restaurant and resort owners from around the Toledo District participated in the workshop that included presentations on topics such as: ⅰ) introduction of sheep project, ⅱ) sheep health management, ⅲ) sheep traceability system iv) sheep nutrition, v) pasture establishment, vi) supplemental feeding and lamb preparation demonstration.
During the afternoon session, the staff of Copal tree resort / sheep farm and Sheep Project’s field manager Mr. Istvan Metzger demonstrated the daily management activities of sheep farming, fulfilling the objective of the project that includes farmers teaching farmers, and demonstrating on sheep feeding, sheep breeds, and vitamin application.
The workshop is another commitment of the Sheep Project Phase II to help farmers learn from farmers. The Sheep and Goat Project includes a budget of US$3 million for a four-year implementation of phase II, that was signed by the Governments of Belize and the Republic of China (Taiwan) in March 2020. The project’s objectives include assisting Belizean farmers in improving the quality of sheep and goats, promoting the domestic consumption of sheep and goat products and to export these products regionally, and strengthening the sheep and goat traceability system to improve value chain efficiencies in Belize.

Agriculture Data Collection for Green House Gases (GHG) Inventory Workshop

Agriculture Data Collection for Green House Gases (GHG) Inventory Workshop
Technical Officers from the Ministry of Agriculture attended a one-day workshop on Agriculture Data Collection for Green House Gases (GHG) Inventory.
The workshop is being hosted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and facilitated by National Liaison Consultant Kathya Castaneda and Technical Coordinator Mr. Willie Chan.
The training will cover the following topics:
Agriculture’s contribution to GHG emissions
Reducing emissions from agriculture
Benefits of farming with reduced emissions
Data Collection process and
Agriculture emission estimates data requirements
Attending the workshop are also technical personnel from BLPA, CARDI, Cooperative Department, SIRDI, YAXCHE, BGA, CPBL and UB.

Behavior of Conventional INIFAP Soybean Varieties Field Day

The Ministry of Agriculture hosted an activity on “Behavior of Conventional INIFAP Soybean Varieties in Belize”. The purpose of the event was to share the experience in planting the varieties of soybean being piloted in Belize by INIFAP, the Mexican National Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research. Four pilot plots with different varieties of soybean were planted in San Carlos, Little Belize, Central Farm and at the Sugar Industry Research and Development Institute at Buena Vista, Corozal.
The soybean research plots have come about as a collaborative effort on the part of the Mexican Secretaria de Agricultura and the Belize Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, following a bilateral agreement between both governments to work together in different areas. Soybean is the first of several commodities where Mexico and Belize will cooperate in research aimed at benefitting both countries.
The aim of the event was to share information especially with farmers and producers. The event was attended by 30 local farmers and technical staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise. The event was facilitated by Dr. Mirna Hernandez and Mr. Jesus Soto, both INIFAP researchers, and Ms. Ina Sanchez, Manager of the Central Farm Research and Innovation Center.
Another event involving high level officials from both Mexican and Belizean agriculture ministries will take place on 13 October.

Minister Mai Concludes Visit to Peten

Minister of Agriculture Hon. Jose Abelardo Mai was on a two-day technical visit to the Department of Peten. The purpose of the visit is to discuss technical collaboration between both countries. The discussion focused on areas of technical Cooperation for fruit trees, agro-processing and sustainable livestock development. Present at the discussion was Mr. Elmer Oliva Pacheco Vice Minister in Charge of Affairs in Petén and the Departmental Governor Mr. Luis Rodolfo Burgos Segura.
Traveling with him is Chief Executive Officer Mr. Servulo Baeza; OIRSA Country Representative, Mr. Fermin Blanco; Chief Agriculture Officer, Dr. Victoriano Pascual and other technical officers from the Ministry of Agriculture.
On the second day the entourage visited the Peten Fruit Tree Nursery, Livestock Production facilities and the Tilapia Hatchery.
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