Ministry of Agriculture Focuses on Diversifying Belize’s Agricultural Sector

The Ministry of Agriculture continues to focus on the diversification of Belize’s agricultural sector to improve food security and access new markets. For years, the country’s farmers have focused on traditional crops, particularly in the north where sugar cane cultivation is predominant. The Briceno Administration believes the introduction of new crops such as dragon fruit, coconuts, and soursop will allow farmers to diversify and expand their production. Yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture Jose Mai spoke about the endeavor and its significance.

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture: “That term has been around for many years since I’m a kid. We in the north have produced cane for the last 50 years, sugarcane, sugarcane, sugarcane. We have been hearing oh diversification, diversification, into what? To what? The first thing you have to answer is why are you going to diversify and for what? Everything that you do, everything a farmer does, it has to be market led and profit driven. So we have identified three commodities, coconut, pitahiya and soursop. And so those three have excellent markets, those three have very good markups. In other words the farmer can do a profit off it. And so those are the three commodities we have prioritized and so one of the cooperatives today is focusing on the production of coconuts.”