Hot Pepper Value Chain Upgrading Strategy and Action Planning Consultation Workshop.

December 16, 2009

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Belize Agro-Productive Sector Group, Producers, Exporters and Processors of Pepper products including Small Farmers of Belize and the Belize Enterprise for sustainable Technology is presently conducting a two-day Hot Pepper Value Chain Upgrading Strategy and Action Planning Consultation workshop in Belmopan.

The Purpose of the workshop is to link small producers to market and advance Food Security in the Caribbean. To build additional understanding buy-in and institutional capacity among stakeholders, of the pepper value chain to finalize and implement the chain upgrade strategy.

This approach has been advanced through the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) under the CARICOM/CARIFORUM Food Security project to strengthen the participation, capacity and productivity of farmers’ organization and agribusiness associations in the analysis upgrading and promotion of Agri-food value chains. The workshop started yesterday and it is in its second day at the George Price Center in Belmopan.

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For More Information
Contact Mr. Ricardo Thompson
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Belmopan
822-2241

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Exchange of Notes and Grant Agreement signing between Belize and Japan for Clean Energy

December 14, 2009

Signing Ceremonies were held today, December 14, 2009 in Belmopan for an Exchange of Notes and a Grant Agreement between the Government of Japan and the Government of Belize in respect of a Project for the Introduction of Clean Energy by Solar Electricity Generation Systems.

The Note provides a framework for Japanese economic cooperation to be extended to Belize with a view to strengthening friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and Belize and to support the efforts by the Government of Belize to address climate change with special emphasis on the adaptation to and the mitigation of climate change as well as on the improvement of access to clean energy,

The Note also confirms the decision of the Government of Japan for the approval of a grant of Five Hundred and Ten Million Japanese Yen (¥510,000,000) or approximately US$5.0 million, in support of the Project which will be disbursed under the terms of a related Grant Agreement between the Government of Belize and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Project involves the establishment of a photovoltaic electricity generation system in Belmopan which converts solar energy to electrical power and which in turn will be sold to the national electrical grid system. The income from such sales will accrue to the Government of Belize. Work on the Project is expected to commence in mid- 2010 and to be completed by August 2011.

Signing on behalf of the Government of Japan was His Excellency, Mr. Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Ambassador of Japan to Belize , while Mr. Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary signed for the Government of Belize.

End.

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Clarification on position taken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries on Jamaican vessels

December 11, 2009

On September 2, 2009 a joint venture agreement was signed between the Rio Grande Fishing Cooperative of Jamaica and PG Fisheries Ltd. Belize, which would bring an investment of USD $850,000.00 into Punta Gorda Town for the construction of a fish processing and an ice making plant. This plant would have been used to process, package and market deep sea fish caught through this cooperation by both entities.

In October 2009, principals of Rio Grande Fishing Cooperative and PG Fisheries Ltd. were informed by the Fisheries and Cooperatives that they must submit a project proposal in order for the foreign vessel to obtain a deep sea fishing license. This document was necessary to determine the following: Species of fish that will be captured, size of fishing vessels, fishing gears, methods of fishing and monitoring to ensure compliance with the fisheries regulations in Belize.

This project proposal has not, to date, been submitted to the Fisheries Department. The investors were then informed by officials that no license can or will be issued to them for deep sea fishing as they failed to submit a project proposal aside from the fact that there is no management regime for deep sea fishing in Belize. In this case, the request for a project proposal was primarily to verify the purpose of the joint venture agreement.

At a meeting of the Fisheries Advisory Board on December 9, 2009 the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Rene Montero, reiterated his support for the Fisheries Department regarding the stance taken on the non-issuance of licenses for deep sea fishing in Belize. It was agreed that a management regime, which would be tasked with the specific responsibility of issuing such licenses, will be in place by March 2010. In the interim, however, the Minister is relying on the Fisheries Advisory Board and its technical personnel to monitor any such applications.

At this time, the Jamaican vessel is impounded at Punta Gorda Town under Customs supervision and is preparing to return home.

The Ministry would like to reinforce that absolutely NO licenses will be granted or given to any foreign fisherman or vessel.

End.

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Public forum on Dam Break Warning System scheduled for this weekend in Cayo

December 09, 2009

Residents of the Cayo district who live downstream from the hydro electric facility operated by Belize Electric Company Limited are being invited to a public forum this weekend in San Ignacio town.

According to a radio announcement which began airing today on Love FM, the purpose of Saturday’s forum is to discuss matters relating to the Dam Break Warning System.

Organized by BECOL in collaboration with the Cayo District Emergency Management Organization, the event will feature presentations by representatives of the Meteorology Department, the Department of the Environment, Public Utilities Commission, Ministry of Health and Belize Water Services Limited.

The discussion is expected to focus on the procedures for the sounding of the sirens, the sound of the sirens, the time frame for evacuations should there be an emergency, the evacuation routes and safe areas.

Organizers of the event say the public will be given the opportunity to interact with the panel in an effort to make progress in finalizing the warning system.

The public forum on the Dam Break Warning System will be held on Saturday morning, starting at 10:00 a.m. at the Cultural Centre in San Ignacio town.

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National 4-H Development Center celebrates International Volunteer Day

The National 4-H Development Center held a Volunteer leaders’ Training and Recognition workshop last week December 4th – 5th, 2009 at the Banana Bank Lodge and Jungle Equestrian Adventure on the Western highway near the City of Belmopan.

The objective of the event were to increase the level of planning and communication with the National 4-H Youth Development Center, to formulate the 2010 Calendar of 4-H events countrywide and to recognize the participating leaders in association with ‘International Volunteer Day’ and to enhance the overall 4-H experience.

Activities during the two days included various team building, networking and report and planning activities as well as horseback riding and other recreational activities.

Mrs. Diane Finnegan presented Certificate of Participation and Certificates of Recognition to the participants to mark the completion of the training to commemorate ‘International Volunteer Day’ respectively.

The National 4-H Development Center has eight active club with over two hundred members. The main facilitators were Ms. Melissa Lemmons and Ms. Julie Magnussen, Peace Corp Volunteer.

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The National Livestock Farm Registry and Data Collection Work Shop

A ‘Training for Trainers’ workshop on the use of the National Livestock Farm Registry and on data collection took place at the George Price Center, Belmopan, on Wednesday, 2nd December, 2009. The Training session covered the main subject areas that are required for export of Livestock to Mexico.

Four (4) data collection forms were presented and actively discussed with some 20 participants that were present including Extension Officers, and other members of the statistics unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

The objective of the training was to show Extension Officers the proper way of practically collecting data at the cattle farm and how to input data and access the database.

This training is part of the process geared towards the sweep on tuberculosis and brucellosis testing scheduled to take place early next year which is a requirement for Belize to export cattle. In this regard, the Extension Officers will be better prepared and ready for this cattle sweep regarding tuberculosis and brucellosis as soon as it begins.

The training session was conducted by Mr. Paul Morgan, hired Consultant by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), who is heading the management team which consisted of the Belize Livestock Producers Association (BPLA), IICA and Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries representatives.

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Tri-national citrus disease plan being finalized

McALLEN, Tex. -- A cooperative agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Belize to protect their commercial citrus industries from an incurable plant disease is expected to be signed within days, according to experts who met recently at a conference in McAllen.

(Media-Newswire.com) - McALLEN, Tex. -- A cooperative agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Belize to protect their commercial citrus industries from an incurable plant disease is expected to be signed within days, according to experts who met recently at a conference in McAllen.

The conference, hosted in part by Texas AgriLife Research and the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, drew stakeholders from various countries concerned about the disease that is harmless to humans but devastating to citrus production regions of the world, including Florida.

“I suspect that other countries will join the effort as they become infected with citrus greening,” said Ray Prewett, president of Texas Citrus Mutual in Mission.

Citrus greening, also called Huanglongbing, is a bacterial disease that keeps fruit from maturing ( thus the name greening ) and eventually kills the tree.

The plan calls for the detection, delimination, treatment and quarantine of citrus greening and the insect that spreads it -- the Asian citrus psyllid -- to protect the citrus production areas of each country, Prewett said.

“All three countries have the disease in one place or another,” Prewett said. “But they also have the commitment and support of their respective citrus industries and governments to implement this plan as soon as possible.”

The tri-national agreement is in its final stages of editing, Prewett said.

“Funding sources have been identified and all three countries are ready to proceed with the plan,” he said.

Dr. John da Graca, director of the Texas A&M-Kingsville Citrus Center at Weslaco, said the consequences of citrus greening are disastrous.

“Many immature fruit fall off infected trees, while remaining fruit are lopsided, remain partially green and taste bitter,” he said. “Symptoms spread throughout the tree which slowly declines and can eventually die.”

The disease was first reported in a scientific paper in India in 1927 but may have been present since the 18th century, he said.

“It spread by movement of infected plants throughout south and southeast Asia during the 20th century, was confirmed in Brazil in 2004 and in Florida in 2005.”

The disease has been devastating for the Florida citrus industry, where more than one million trees have been removed as part of the effort to control it, da Graca said. It has since been found in dooryard trees in Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina. Prevalent also in Cuba, it has recently been found in Belize and the Yucatan state in Mexico.

“The Texas citrus industry in South Texas is now seriously threatened by this disease,” Prewett said. “In fact, we’re encircled by it. Florida has had it for some time, it’s been detected in Louisiana and it’s widespread in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.”

While the disease has not yet been detected in Texas, there are plenty of psyllids around to spread the disease.

“Needless to say, we are very supportive of these international efforts and there’s a lot of work to be done here,” he said, “but experts agree that in a place like South Texas where the psyllid is endemic, the populations can’t be eradicated. It’s never been done anywhere in the world.”

Buying time, Prewett said, is an important ingredient in the plan’s efforts.

“The idea is to suppress the populations of psyllids in order to buy time for researchers to come up with scientific solutions to this very debilitating citrus disease,” Prewett said. “The lower the psyllid populations in a recently infected area, the slower the spread of the disease.”

“Once a tree is infected, there is no cure. There is no treatment,” Prewett said. “Once a tree is infected, it must be destroyed to prevent it from being an inoculate for the further spread of the disease.”

Representatives of Mexico and Belize expressed optimism in the plan’s objectives.

Dr. Javier Trujillo, director general of plant health in Mexico, said citrus greening would be an issue for at least another 20 years and that his country was ready to sign the agreement.

“I’m happy we have a plan,” he said. “The three countries can now move forward at the same pace to combat this problem. I’m satisfied that we’re now at a point that once we proceed with this plan, we’ll be as successful as we have been in our 30-year effort against the Mediterranean fruit fly.”

Mexico, with over one million acres of commercial citrus production, has been successful in pushing medfly populations south of their border.

Immediate needs against greening include a better disease detection system and a better public outreach effort to discourage the movement of plant material, Trujillo said.

Francisco Gutierrez, director of plant health with the Belizean Agricultural Health Authority, said Belize had recently hired a coordinator for their national citrus greening program, as well as six technicians and several scouts who were surveying orchards and dooryard, or patio, trees.

"The citrus industry is facing devastation if we don’t do anything,” he said. “The challenge will be to maintain the human, financial and material resources. We have the commitment to the plan from our Minister of Agriculture and our industry has established a box tax on itself to fund some of the efforts.”

Dr. Stephen Williams, director of the Citrus Research and Education Institute and the representative of the Belizean Citrus Growers Association, said Belize has a citrus industry of 45,000 acres, most of which are Valencia oranges.

“Citrus is an important agricultural commodity in Belize,” he said. “The majority of our fruit is used for processing for concentrate to blend because our citrus has a reputation for strong color. It is sent to the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe.”

After surveying trees for several years, citrus greening was detected in Belize in May, Williams said. Since then nine more samples have tested positive.

The tri-national group of about 40 representatives who met at the conference in McAllen last week broke after agreeing their next step should be to identify working group leaders. Those leaders, they decided, will report to the group at their next meeting in Merida, Mexico, next summer.

The tri-national group discussion was moderated by Dr. Osama E-Lissy, director of emergency programs with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and the Plant Protection and Quarantine.

Other conference hosts included Frito-Lay Inc., Texas A&M-Kingsville Citrus Center and Texas Citrus Mutual.

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Belize preparing to export fish and beef to Jamaica

Belmopan, 26th November, 2009. Representatives of Rainforest Seafoods Ltd. of Jamaica, leave Belize today after a fact-finding two-day investment mission.

Mr. Ernest Grant, Director of Marketing and Sales and Mr. Brian Jardim were in Belize to finalize agreements looking into the possibility of investing in Belize. This has already begun to take shape with the construction of a fish-processing unit at Independence, Stann Creek District.

This facility will purchase fish from the fishermen in Southern Belize. The fish will then be processed for export to Jamaica and the United States of America. The processing plant has been built at Kerbo Ranch in Independence which simultaneously is also processing beef to sell to Jamaica.

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Rene Montero, said that he is totally in support of the export of beef and goat meat to Jamaica and also the establishment of the processing plant in Independence.

Minister Montero stated that this venture is already producing employment and generating much needed foreign exchange for the entrepreneurs in those areas.
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For further details please contact:

Ms. Catherine Hob
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
Belmopan.
Tells: 822-2241 or 822-2242

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