World Bank Official Tours Valley of Peace Farming Project
Officials from the World Bank are in Belize to assist farmers invest in better forms of technology that are more climate-resilient than what they are presently using. Farmers, particularly in the Valley of Peace area, will benefit from a loan project worth twenty-five million dollars. That area which is known to supply much of the country with cabbage, lettuce and other produce, is prone to destruction when it floods. Today, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean Felipe Jaramillo spoke about the project after he toured the village and Minister of Agriculture Jose Abelardo Mai explained that the beneficiaries of the loan have received monies before to help them with the same cause.
Felipe Jaramillo
Felipe Jaramillo, Vice President, Latin America & the Caribbean, World Bank
“We have been working to help farmers across several areas, including agriculture. And in agriculture, we have a brand new loan, a project for $25 million, which is about climate resiliency and trying to help farmers with better crops, better technology. We expect that at least 7,000 will benefit directly with some matching grants to improve the way that they farm and we’re also supporting extension services and hope with that to reach many more thousands of farmers and also weather information so that farmers know what’s the right time to plant and you know what risks they face. We’re here at Valley of Peace where I’m very glad to see the families and the farmers who have been working here for quite some time. And the World Bank supported with some funding these farmers here is particularly after COVID when things were difficult and they were able to use some of these funding to recover from the difficulties of the COVID crisis, and I’m glad to see that they’ve been thriving. They plant mainly in the summer, lots of different kinds of vegetables and they tell me that, you know, they’ve been making progress every year and we really hope to continue to support them in the future.”
Jose Abelardo Mai
Jose Abelardo Mai, Minister of Agriculture
“These farmers visited here today have been beneficiaries of World Bank projects in the past. And they are, I’m sure will be beneficiaries of the next World Bank project we have coming online. The Vice President and his team want to see what we have done, how we have selected these farmers, what are the criteria and I believe that we have done a good job of showing them how we are spending money, and how much more money we need for the farmers of this country. I think that they understand and they can appreciate from the statistics that agriculture has increased. Agriculture has grown in the country in only three years. And I think that they also are convinced that agriculture is a sector that the World Bank can invest in and they are certain that they will see the benefits of that investment in people. At the end of the day, these I.F.Is look at the social benefit, how can the country, how can the people benefit, how can you improve the lives of people, and so I think that the World Bank Vice President and the team will return to their offices, to their country, satisfied that we’ve done a good job.”
