Resilient Rural Belize Donates Equipment to National Met Services
Climate change requires that all sectors be resilient and there must be adaptation. Over fifty-seven thousand dollars in equipment were handed over to the National Meteorological Services today, as part of its role in the Resilient Rural Belize project. The donation of laptops, desktops and sensors is part of a bigger, half a million-dollar project that seeks to connect farmers with climatological data that the National Met Service will be collecting to better inform their agricultural processes. This exchange of information will be done through the establishment of a mobile app, which is expected to be completed before the start of the next hurricane season.
Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, C.E.O., Ministry of Economic Development
“The total package is two hundred and forty-four thousand U.S. dollars. So this is just the first phase which is fifty-seven thousand dollars in having twenty-six sensors around the country in areas that has been identified; computers as you all saw while doing the tour. The Met Office is so important in forecasting any natural disaster that is coming for Belize, they need more help in terms of technological capacity and more introduction of modern equipment that will help them to hold the data and at the same to be able to analyze and disseminate the data.”
Ronald Gordon
Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist
“This will help to build the agro-climatic capacity within the department so that we can provide information to farmers on what they can expect in terms of seasonal predictions of rainfall and temperature so that they can plan accordingly and minimize losses in the agricultural sector. So it is very important to us and we look forward to continue working with the RRB in further development of this project. There is also the other component I mentioned which is the mobile app that we hope to launch – if not by the end of the year, by the start of the next hurricane season. That mobile app will help us to disseminate the information because it is one thing to produce the information, but also to get it out to the users that actually need it and that will help us in that area.”
Orlando Habet
Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
“The farmer will be able to have this app and so the communication can be sent directly from the meteorological service to the farmer and then they can make those decisions of when to plant, there is rain coming, when to irrigate especially during the dry season if they still have crops or whether or not they should still plant that crop or maybe more resilient crop to the dry season or maybe one that can take more water during the wet season and to make those important decisions. From the government standpoint it is absolutely important because this is an adaptation measure which falls under the Ministry of Sustainable Development. And so we are happy that this adaptation measure can be taken to assist the farmers.”
