FAO project will gather farm data

Belize’s agricultural sector is in for modernization, thanks to a project approved by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation. Under the half million dollar programme, a statistical database will be created of all the nation’s farms and farmers. This will allow the Ministry of Agriculture to make better predictions of farm production and more accurately assess damage in the wake of disasters like Hurricane Keith. A part of the funds will also be used to expand the ministry’s technical assistance and training capacity. The FAO’s contribution to the sixteen-month project will be three hundred and eighty-four thousand dollars, while government will add the remaining one hundred and sixteen thousand.