Agriculture minister urges diversification

Agriculture ministers from Central America, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic are in the country today taking part in the twenty-first Ordinary Meeting of the Regional Council for Agricultural Co-operation and the Central American Agricultural Council. In his opening address, Minister of Agriculture Daniel Silva emphasised the need for Belizean farmers to move into crops that are better suited to the global market.

Daniel Silva, Minister of Agriculture

“In a liberalised trade environment farmers need to be efficient and competitive. Hence, they need to specialise, increase their scale of operation and be more proactive on value adding and marketing. The markets of primary materials, where the producer is a price taker are hostile. This has adversely affected our traditional exports of citrus, sugar and bananas. Therefore, we must diversify, integrate vertically and add economic value to all our products, otherwise we have no chance of competing successfully.”

Topics to be discussed at the meeting will include the preparation of disaster mitigation for the agricultural sector and the Pueblo Panama Plan. The meeting ends on Friday.