Ministry of Agriculture focuses on expanding local production

Published by BBNTEAM at January 23, 2023

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Posted: Monday, January 23, 2023. 2:37 pm CST.

By Zoila Palma Gonzalez: Today, the Ministry of Economic Development launched the Plan Belize medium-term development strategy.

Chief Executive Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Servulo Baeza said that the Ministry has looked at the wide scope of items being imported into Belize.

CEO Baeza says that the Ministry has now pinpointed things on that list of imported items that can be produced in Belize.

“When we are importing you don’t know the level of pesticides,” Baeza said.

“We have taken that list of imported items and pinpointed things that we believe we can produce here. An example is onion, potato and carrots. Three staples we consume about 100,000 of per week. At this time, we produce carrots to supply the country for 10 months of the year,” Baeza stated.

Baeza said that this is a huge achievement for farmers.

In addition, he said that Belize produces onion for about 5 months of the year and potatoes for 6 months.

However, the Ministry is focused on expanding production by improving post harvest management.

“If we can improve our varieties with more tropicalized varieties that can withstand more heat and humidity and if we improve post-harvest management and with proper storage, we could extend to another 3 to 4 months of our product in the market,” Baeza noted.

With regards to beverages, Baeza said that there are many fruits harvested in Belize that can be processed and juice can be produced.

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