Nago Bank Road to be Upgraded
The first project under the Resilient Rural Belize program of the Ministry of Economic Development will see a three-mile stretch of road in rural Belize District upgraded to be climate resilient and to better connect agro-producers who supply the entire country. One point seven million dollars will be invested for the upgrade. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Today, ground was broken in the Nago Bank Community off the Maskal Road where three miles of dirt road will be upgraded for ease of access to agricultural produce from twenty-two farmers in the area. These farmers are known to provide majority of the vegetables and fruits for the Belize District.
Ruben Pineda
Ruben Pineda, Chairman, Nago Bank Cooperative Society Ltd. [Translated]
“Here we produce onion, banana, watermelon, melon, cucumber, habanero. We have tomatoes, sweet peppers and, yes, spinach, basil, and we have lettuce. Most vegetables are grown here in Nago Bank. We have a lot of merchandise and we are growing and we also have trees like avocado. We have mango, and coconut and lemon. We are already starting to produce all these fruits.”
Marconi Leal Sr.
Marconi Leal Sr., Area Representative, Belize Rural North
“This is super important. This is an area, the entire Maskal area is rich soil, it’s excellent for farming and getting this roadwork into this area is not only encouraging for the people of Nago Bank, but people from the area is seeing that work is being done in the area and it is especially for farmers because we want to push the farmers.”
The upgrade of the road comes at the tune of one point seven million dollars and is expected to be completed within six months – three months to get the road fixed and another three months for monitoring purposes.
Dr. Osmond Martinez
Dr. Osmond Martinez, C.E.O., Ministry of Economic Development
“Today is a historical moment for RRB and the Ministry of Economic Development and we have to say thank you to the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing and the Ministry of Agriculture. This is the first project that will be implemented through RRB. And we have to remember that that project was signed back in 2018 and we were about to lose that project which is a total of forty million dollars and now finally, the small agro-producers are starting to enjoy the benefits of this project. This road will definitely contribute highly to this sector in terms of reducing poverty, at the same time creating jobs, but more importantly to increase their wealth because they will have a proper road to be able to mobilize their products independently whether we are in dry season or rainy season.”
C.E.O. in the Ministry of Agriculture Servulo Baeza speaks of how the infrastructure work translates into the development of the agriculture industry.
Servulo Baeza
Servulo Baeza, C.E.O., Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security & Enterprise
“It helps tremendously in terms of access for these farmers – access to their farms, access to the buyers. They used to have problems for people to come and buy their products. But now with the improvements of the road that should alleviate that tremendously. All their inputs, everything that is needed for them to be able to produce and I must say that these are some of the most productive farmers that we have in the entire country. The Belize District as a whole, this particular area both here Nago Bank, Maskal, Bomba are some of the bigger producers of onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon. So they have a wide range of production here in this area and so it helps them to access the markets and also to bring in their inputs, what they need to produce.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
