Soybean project aims at diversification
With the sugar industry suffering from problems ranging from production to marketing to politics, many experts say that the best bet for the future of the north is diversification. And while that advice is nothing new, the project visited today by News 5’s Janelle Chanona seems to present an alternative well grounded in reality.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning, farmers from the Stann Creek, Cayo, Belize, Orange Walk and Corozal Districts assembled in the Mennonite community of New Hope in the Orange Walk District to talk about soybeans. The crop is being promoted as an alternative to Belizean farmers, especially those in the north.
Yvette Alonzo, Soybean Project Coordinator
“Our Mennonite farmers have been the ones who have ventured into soybean production more willingly than our local farmers. Our local farmers, we notice are a little less… they like to take less risk. They are comfortable with sugar cane, they’ve been growing sugar cane for so many years and to just start something new is very difficult for them. They want to see results first, they need to be convinced that this is something that will work for them. So, that’s what they’re waiting for and that’s why I think a lot of them are out here right now. There’s a lot of interest, it’s just that they need to see for themselves that this is something that they can definitely make some money off.”
Apparently, there’s good money in soybean production. According to Alonzo, the government is offering producers up to thirty-five cents a pound. With one acre yielding from eighteen hundred to twenty-four hundred pounds, experts estimate farmers can earn a profit of between a hundred and two hundred dollars per acre. And, to sweeten the pot, demand is far greater than supply.
Yvette Alonzo
“We have a huge market, I mean, for us to fill our local demand, we need to plant twenty-five thousand acres. So the market is definitely secure. The shrimp production is increasing at least by two point five percent every year, so we see it as a crop that has a lot of potential here in Belize.”
To help get that point across, Government has enlisted the help of the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute, CARDI.
Anil Sinha, CARDI Consultant
“There are a lot of things which you have to look into. Number one is your ph.”
Today, CARDI provided farmers with basic, practical information about growing soybeans.
Anil Sinha
“Ideal ph for growing soya bean is six to seven. Now if we have less than that, if we have five point eight or less than that, then we have to provide liming. We have to give the lime, but lime doesn’t mean that you just apply and go on the plant thrives, lime does not work like that. It takes, at least a minimum of one month, and it depends on the type of lime that we are providing.”
“Deep and fertile soil is ideally looking… soya bean is looking for deep and fertile soil. Good drainage is also important. If you see some fields, they have water on certain places, you will see the soya been is not growing well, and where there are good drainage they are growing well. Avoid white marl. In north it’s more of a problem compared to the west. You will have pockets of white marl, soya bean will not grow well in white marl area. Sugar can to some extent, but not soya bean.”
The farmers of the August Pine Ridge/New Hope Association have already taken the plunge into the soybean market with three hundred acres under cultivation.
Edilberto Gideon, Chair, August Pine Ridge/New Hope Assoc.
“As long as we can get the help from the project or government with the inputs and maybe fertilizer and the technical advice and help, well I think everybody can make it. I know for sure that can be one of the commodities to replace sugar cane.”
At the moment, soybean is used as animal feed in the shrimp, pig and chicken industries. But the legume also enriches the soil, a side effect which provides additional benefits for crop rotation. The Belizean authorities say if soybean production increases significantly, in the near future Belize will be able to produce by-products like tofu and soybean milk.
The downside to this wonder crop is that larger plantations are more cost efficient, so at least in the promotional phase, government will be providing small farmers with technical support on a credit basis.
Yvette Alonzo
“The land preparation that it requires and the machineries that are involved in all of that, it’s more efficient if you have at least fifty acres than if you have five acres of land. Your cost of production will be greater for five acres than for fifty acres. So we encourage farmers to start at fifty acres, although right now we have as low as fifteen acres, twenty acres, and we still expect those to be making a profit. But we at the project station we have all the equipment, tractors, planters, combines, and for us to move those equipment, we have to have a sizable amount of land, because it’s very costly for us to move it.”
But despite the hype, it still remains up to local farmers to decide whether the soybean plant will find permanent roots in Belizean soil. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
