Amexcid funds totalling BZ$6 million released for Sembrando Vida project

Published by BBNTEAM at October 18, 2022

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Posted: Tuesday, October 18, 2022. 10:51 am CST.

Photo Credit: MAFSE

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: Registration for the Mexican funded Sembrando Vida Project will start soon for 2000 Belizean farmers. This comes after Agriculture Minister Jose Abelard Mai signed the Amexcid Sembrando Vida grant contract on Monday officially releasing funds amounting to BZ$6 million to the Sembrando Vida project, said the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise (MAFSE)

According to MAFSE, Minister Mai signed the grant contract at the Centro Escolar Mexico Junior College in San Roman, Corozal. Claudio Lara, director of the Sembrando Vida project in Belize, represented the Mexican government. Corozal District Agriculture Coordinator Fred Roches also acted as witness to the signing.

The Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) project which is to be carried out by the Mexican International Agency for Cooperation and Development (Amexcid), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise, is going to benefit 2,000 Belizean farmers.

MAFSE said that with the funds officially released, the parts of the project relying on the grant funds can now be carried out.

“These include hiring of project extension officers, release of stipends to farmers, and obtaining agro-inputs to assist with the program,” said MAFSE.

The Sembrando Vida program is an initiative by the Mexican government that has been carried out in neighbouring countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador with much success.

Emilio Rene Montero, National Food and Nutrition Security Commission (NFNSC) Coordinator, explained that though the Sembrando Vida project lasts eight months but may stretch for a period of three years considering all farmers will not start at the same time.

“We may start with the 300 farmers and then keep on registering more and more till we’ll get to the 2,000 farmers,” Montero said.

Montero said the project is for small farmers.

“The project is to actually assist the small farmer; farmers that have within .5 of an acre to 5 acres. So, we have to register them. They will be getting an economic incentive for 4 months with agricultural inputs like fertilizer, seeds, irrigation systems, and so on. And 8 months of training.”

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