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The Belize Sugar Industries and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association have agreed to employ an independent mediator, with only two months left before the opening of the 2022/2023 sugar crop. It is a critical step in their negotiations towards finalizing a commercial agreement. Both parties have not been able to see eye to eye […]
Written on October 18, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Featured |
Comments Off on Independent Mediator to Resolve Impasse between B.S.I. and B.S.C.F.A.
We also asked Chavarria about the role of Florencio Marin Senior in the negotiation process. As we have reported, Marin was hired by the Government of Belize to be an advisor to the Sugar Industry Control Board in the negotiations. We asked Chavarria if Marin’s role has resulted in any progress towards finalizing the Commercial […]
Written on October 18, 2022 | Posted in
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Featured |
Comments Off on B.S.I.’s Financial Director Chimes in on Performance of S.I.C.B. Advisor, Florencio Marin Sr.
The world continues to grapple with the effects of climate change. In Belize, the sugar industry is facing a climate crisis. The industry has already recorded losses in the millions of dollars, extended droughts and prolonged rains linked to global warming. The Belize Sugar Industries is seeking to secure the future of the sector from […]
Written on October 18, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Featured |
Comments Off on Eleven New Varieties of Sugar Cane to Save the Sugar Industry
The impasse between A.S.R./B.S.I. and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association has extended well beyond the close of the 2022 crop. All this while there is Florencio Marin Senior acting as an intermediary contracted by the government to try and bring both sides to some common ground. Following today’s house meeting, Prime Minister John Briceño […]
Written on October 17, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
People & Places,
Politics |
Comments Off on Prime Minister Says Disputing Parties in Sugar Impasse Agree to Mediation Process
The Ministry of Agriculture has already sent out personnel to assess the agricultural damages associated with this weekend’s flooding. According to Minister Orlando Habet, flood waters will have to recede before the Government of Belize can calculate the value of the damages. But, what he did inform us is that losses are significant. Orlando […]
Written on October 11, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Disasters,
Environment,
Featured |
Comments Off on Value of Agricultural Damages Caused By Flooding Event to be Determined
The Ministry of Agriculture is launching an initiative in terms of starting a coconut industry in northern Belize. Minister Jose Abelardo Mai says that the goal is to diversify the agriculture industry in the north and that the coconut seeds have already been acquired. Jose Abelardo Mai, Ministry of Agriculture “We are trying to […]
Written on October 7, 2022 | Posted in
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Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on A Coconut Industry in the North
The Ministry of Agriculture recently took a trip to Guatemala in an effort to identify areas of technical cooperation between both countries to improve the agriculture industry. Agriculture Minister Jose Abelardo Mai says that there is interest in best practices for fruit trees and have made advancements in gender inclusion in the agriculture industry. In […]
Written on October 7, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy |
Comments Off on Agricultural Technical Cooperation between Belize and Guatemala
In mid-September, we told you about a strain of avian influenza that was detected in the poultry industry in the north. In the wake of its detection, eight farms – seven in Blue Creek and one in Shipyard – had to be quarantined. In the case of two of the farms, the chickens were destroyed, […]
Written on October 6, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment,
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Comments Off on Avian Flu Contained: No More Positive Cases Detected
Millions of dollars in losses have been recorded for the poultry industry in the north, but Minister of Agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai, says that the country will not experience any shortage in poultry products since the Spanish Lookout producers will pick up the slack. While the country had battled a similar case of bird flu […]
Written on October 6, 2022 | Posted in
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Economy,
Environment,
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Comments Off on Changes in Testing Process for Poultry Industry in Wake of Influenza
While the Guatemalans have not set up illegal cattle ranches at Barrio El Juda, they were successful in doing so in other locations deep in our lush jungle near the border. Lieutenant Colonel Burns revealed where the Guatemalans have set up these illegal pastures and what the B.D.F. plans to do about it. Lt. […]
Written on September 27, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
People & Places |
Comments Off on B.D.F. Contemplates Approach to Removing Illegal Guatemalan Cattle Ranch
The Ministry of Economic Development and Resilient Rural Belize paid a visit to the University of Belize Central Farm Campus on Monday to evaluate the progress of an M.O.U. signed back in April. At the time, the Government of Belize, the International Funding for Agricultural Development and the Green Climate Fund, through Resilient Rural Belize, […]
Written on September 27, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on Climate Smart Agriculture Research Focused on Tomato Production
Illegal cattle ranching along Belize’s western border persists, five years after the first reports were made. This illicit activity is taking place within Belize’s forest reserves and has become a huge concern for members of the conservation community, as it is leading to the clearing of large portions of land. The main culprits are purportedly […]
Written on September 16, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on Cattle Ranching Persist along Belize’s Western Border, Despite Belize- Guatemala Agreements
One of the sticking points in the ongoing negotiation process has to do with the formula being used to calculate the prices farmers receive for the sugar cane they deliver to the mill. With the current formula, farmers receive sixty-five percent of net value after the mill sells its sugar and molasses. A.S.R./B.S.I. receives thirty-five […]
Written on September 8, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
People & Places |
Comments Off on B.S.C.F.A. Proposes a Change in Payment Formula; A.S.R./B.S.I. Objects
On Wednesday, the People’s United Party’s Northern Caucus met with the B.S.C.F.A. in Orange Walk to hear presentations from the executive of the association. Prime Minister John Briceño and Minister of Agriculture Jose Mai are both members of the P.U.P.’s Northern Caucus. In the meeting, Prime Minister John Briceño reportedly told farmers that the Government […]
Written on September 8, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on Sugar Cane Farmers and P.U.P. Northern Caucus Meet to Discuss A.S.R./B.S.I. Impasse
A small shrimp farm in Ladyville has been awarded an International Aquaculture Stewardship Council Certification after meeting exacting industry standards. The certification comes on the heels of investments undertaken to revitalize the shrimp industry in Belize. As News Five found out, while the industry had collapsed due to disease years ago, Caribbean Shrimp Company had […]
Written on August 26, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on Caribbean Shrimp Company Awarded International Aquaculture Stewardship Council Certification
This afternoon at the National Agriculture and Trade Show Grounds, the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, BAHA, enacted much-needed poultry health regulations. The guidelines were brought into force by Minister of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Jose Abelardo Mai as a key element in good governance within the veterinary scope of BAHA. The statutory body pursued […]
Written on August 18, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy |
Comments Off on Enactment of BAHA’s Poultry Health Regulation
A pair of officers from the Ministry of Agriculture visited El Salvador recently as part of a technical exchange. There they met with fruit tree producers to gather information on research and technology transfer in non-traditional fruit crops such as dragon fruit, sour sop, coconut, pineapple and avocado. The exchange was coordinated by the Belize […]
Written on August 18, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on Ministry of Agriculture Officers on Technical Exchange Visit in El Salvador
The news last week was that the ongoing trade dispute between the American Sugar Refinery/Belize Sugar Industries Limited and the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association had still not been solved and that neither side seemed willing to move beyond their present position. A.S.R./B.S.I. has said that it can’t pay more for the bagasse to the […]
Written on August 5, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Featured |
Comments Off on PM Says A.S.R./B.S.I. and B.S.C.F.A. Must Find a Solution to Trade Dispute
The 2021-2022 sugar crop comes to a close on Friday, and while the season got off to a rocky start, the American Sugar Refinery/Belize Sugar Industries (A.S.R./B.S.I.) says it ended on solid footing. At the start of the year, there was bad weather that caused unforeseen delays and a protest by members of the Belize […]
Written on July 28, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Featured |
Comments Off on Sugar Crop Closes but A.S.R./B.S.I. and B.S.C.F.A. Still Have Fundamental Differences
The dispute between A.S.R./B.S.I. and the B.S.C.F.A. Sugar Cane Farmers Association hovers mainly over them not being able to come to terms on a commercial agreement. But to sign off on that agreement, there are several factors at play. We heard from both sides today about what their gripe is with the other. What they […]
Written on July 28, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Featured |
Comments Off on Several Factors Hover Over Dispute between A.S.R./B.S.I. and B.S.C.F.A.
While the two parties continue to negotiate to sign off on a commercial agreement, another issue this year was that there were significant losses from cane that remained in the field, or what is called stand-over cane. The numbers we’ve been given are around a hundred thousand tons of cane that will go to waste […]
Written on July 28, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Featured |
Comments Off on Over A Hundred Thousand Tons of Sugar Cane Lost This Year
As August second draws closer for Belize’s Amnesty Program to kick in, the hubs that the International Organization for Migration (I.O.M.) has been holding across the country over the last several months to educate interested immigrants have now ended. But if you still have interests but are concerned about certain aspects of the application process, […]
Written on July 22, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
People & Places |
Comments Off on One Tenth of Migrants Have Sought Assistance for Amnesty
Twenty-nine Belizean farmers and agriculture students returned home today after spending the last eighty-four days in Colombia in Technical Agriculture Studies. All twenty-nine graduated from the program. Noemi Romero is an agriculture student who hails from San Pedro Columbia Village, Toledo. She is enlisted in agriculture studies at the Central Farm campus and told News […]
Written on July 18, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Education |
Comments Off on Twenty-nine Belizeans Return from Colombia with Certificates in Technical Agriculture Studies
Romero shared that prior to now, she was experimenting with trial and error to apply bio-fertilizers, but now she has the technical know-how on what to do and how much of what to use on her farm, as well as in her agriculture course. Noemi Romero, Completed Technical Agriculture Studies “I was practicing some […]
Written on July 18, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Education |
Comments Off on Agriculture Student Farmer Says Training Will Also Help with Her Studies in Agriculture
And while laborers who fall within the minimum wage category will be smiling when they receive their first paycheck reflecting that increase, Belize has also made some inroads in the exportation of cattle to Mexico, which will inject some much-needed foreign currency into our economy. There is a down side to that, however, because just […]
Written on July 7, 2022 | Posted in
Agriculture,
Economy,
Environment |
Comments Off on Belize Now Able to Export Cattle from Entire Country to Mexico
