Agriculture Sector Poised to Benefit from Investments

While Tourism, the Blue Economy, and Infrastructure Development are sectors that will no doubt be looking to benefit from the fruits the Summit will bring about, the agriculture industry is also looking to see how it can tap into the opportunities created. Minister Abelardo Mai shared his views on how investment can further develop that industry.

Abelardo Mai

Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“We produce cacao beans and we import chocolate. We produce and export corn and we import mazeca. That tells a whole big story. We need investments in the agro-processing sector, and if I were to be an investor and come to Belize, I would be looking in this particular area because there are so much things we can do in Belize, industrialize the sector, so I think that we are right on point. Agriculture is one of the key drivers of the economy. Linking with tourism, synergizing it will have great impact on the economy. I think COVID forced us to look deeper into agriculture and how it can benefit the country. If you look and analyze what, while agriculture was impacted, it was the least impacted compared to the other industries, compared to tourism. It’s just devastated. It says that we have to invest in this sector.”