Monies to Invest in Productivity of Farmers
Mark Lizarraga
But Senator Mark Lizarraga was quick to crunch the numbers concluding that the million dollars for the drought is not enough because it works out to only about three hundred and five dollars per registered farmer. For Senator Doctor Louis Zabaneh, monies could have been diverted from road contracts to mitigate the negative impacts of drought and flooding as well as to invest in the productivity of farmers.
Mark Lizarraga, Senator for Private Sector
“I look at the schedule of proposed aid and it is ambitious. Land clearing, cleaning up the stuff, fertilizing and a whole host of other things, technical assistance, a whole bunch of other things. And again I say to myself this looks like a very small amount. I proceeded to read the document and I want to quote from the document and it says that the Government of Belize is not in a position to fully compensate farmers for the loss suffered as a result of the drought; they are cognizant of the fact that post disaster assistance is not sustainable and the that the sugar industry outlook remains uncertain. So, the leader of government business just place great emphasis on the need for this sector to perform well, but when this document was written, it appears that the government was saying that the sugar industry outlook remains uncertain.”
Louis Zabaneh
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, P.U.P. Senator
“One million dollars is certainly not even going to shake the boat at all in terms of what we really need to focus on which is to increase the productivity of our farmers across the country. In other areas, whether it is grains, whether it is livestock, whether it is citrus or bananas. We have been investing yes in roads and roundabouts and all these kinds of things; poor prioritization of our limited resources. Now we want to try and save the sugar industry because we know the sugar industry is what will bring in the foreign exchange. But where is the money to do it? We don’t have the money to do it. I just read in the news that another portion of the Caracol Road, the contracts got signed. What was it? Thirty-five million or more dollars again. This was just yesterday or day before. Why haven’t those monies been redirected to where the needs are?”
The fourth loan motion for one million nine hundred and fourteen thousand eight hundred U.S. dollars from the International Fund for Agricultural Development was passed by the Senate without dissent. The loan is for a resilient Belize project.
