Minister of Agriculture: Belize Can Learn from Others Best Practices in Agriculture

Jose Abelardo Mai

Mai is also of the view that Belize can learn from other countries around us on how to become more efficient, particularly at a time when climate change is becoming more of an issue where agriculture is concerned.

Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture

“We would like to strengthen what we refer to as the bio-inputs in Spanish it’s bio-ensumos. Climate change is real. The high cost of inputs is real, and so these two combined are putting the sectors in some very challenging, in a very challenging spot. And so we need, in my view, I think that we need to look at these organizations and ask them to help us in defining the different resources and the different types of, of bio-inputs, for example, expanding the bio- fertilizer program. I think that it, it, it works in other countries, it can work for us and I think we need to give it, uh, a greater, greater attention greater. I look at the areas of biological control. I mean the insecticides, one, damaging to the environment. Two, they’re very expensive, and three, they’re not the most effective especially with resistance growing in, in, in diseases and, and, and other pests. So we need to look at that again. We need to look, for example, I’m concerned about the increasing number of pests we’re having in our crops, beans being one of them.”