On Friday, we took you to Maskall in the Belize District to see a group of city youths interacting with farmers. They learned much about what it takes to manage a modern farm or agricultural operation. But space considerations meant we couldn’t tell you much about the actual operations themselves. Tonight, we take a closer […]
We have told you of the Police Department’s plan to introduce “green gardening” – agricultural greenhouses to bolster the school feeding program and specific classes to teach backyard gardening to youngsters. South side regional commander Howell Gillett today offered his thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture and Social Security Board for funding the programme. […]
On our visit to Maskall today we were confronted by a common problem in the agriculture sector: poor road infrastructure. While the Nago Bank Road was at least in serviceable condition, it was quite a bumpy ride over the black dirt road, with heavy grooves and other obstacles, to Alex Pineda’s cooperative farming community site. […]
Three Honduran fishers are behind bars tonight after they were charged for fishing illegally within a marine protected area. Southern Environmental Association and Belize Coast Guard were on a joint patrol on Monday night within the spawning aggregation zone at the Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve. There, they arrested three illegal fishers, seized […]
The 2017-2018 sugar cane season is winding down and targets are close to being met. But the worry for cane farmers tonight is whether they will see any profits. ASR/BSI announced last week that the third estimated average cane price for the 2018 crop is forty-one dollars and sixty-nine cents per ton of cane, a […]
While prices for their sugar are out of the farmers’ and ASR/B.S.I.’s control, Belize still retains a working relationship with Tate and Lyle of the United Kingdom, which continues to sell Belize’s product. ASR/BSI, says Avilez, continues to look for new markets, especially for direct consumption sugar. Olivia Avilez, Cane Farmers Relations Manager, ASR/B.S.I. […]
In the letter to farmers, ASR/B.S.I. makes a conservative estimate that one point two-eight million tons of cane will be milled and they will realize one hundred and thirty-three thousand, seven hundred and fifty tons of sugar and thirty-eight thousand tons in molasses. At the start of crop, the millers projected one point three million […]
Is calling out C.E.O. of Agriculture Jose Alpuche for also being the chairman of the Belize Agricultural Health Authority political mischief, or is there a legitimate concern that his dual role constitutes a conflict of interest? According to Alpuche, the Ministry of Agriculture subsumed BAHA prior to it becoming a statutory body where a seat […]
Information reaching News Five is that some one hundred and thirty boxes of limes have been released from the cargo section at the Belize-Mexico border. The fruit is scarce in Belize and the Ministry of Agriculture had agreed to a pest risk analysis for importation, though it is not clear if it has been completed. […]
Belize Aquaculture Limited has recently announced the retrenchment of a hundred employees at its shrimp farm in the Stann Creek District. The streamlining exercise to reduce its workforce comes amid financial constraints caused by a disease outbreak three years ago. While the company has been prudent in giving notice to the ministries of agriculture and […]
On Monday evening, the Belize Poultry Association held its annual general meeting at the Biltmore Hotel. Producers from across the country came together for a comprehensive presentation on the state of the industry. While the chicken business continues to be the hallmark of best practices within the agro-productive sector, the aim is for Belizean produce […]
There is a report that as many as one hundred and thirty boxes of limes were imported today from Mexico, without a proper Pest Risk Analysis. The lime, however, reportedly remains with customs at the Santa Elena border because of strong objections to the importation. It follows from a report last week that the fruit […]
The budget debate continued today in the House of Representatives in Belmopan as members of parliament made their contributions and up to news time, the debate continues. But we begin tonight’s newscast with troubling news from one of the main economic pillars, that is, the shrimp industry in the south. Last November, the Statistical Institute […]
In other agricultural news from Belmopan, Orange Walk South area representative and the P.U.P.’s spokesman for agriculture, Jose Abelardo Mai, dropped a stunner during his Budget presentation. There is currently a scarcity of limes on the market, as the humble fruit has taken a beating from citrus greening disease in the south and other factors. […]
The Belize Agro-Productive Sector Group will meet with Prime Minister Dean Barrow and other top officials next Wednesday ahead of the Budget Debate. During the presentation on March ninth, the Prime Minister spoke of lifting of exemptions to General Sales Tax on land preparation for agriculture, harvesting, and crop dusting services as part of additional […]
For two years now, a national sheep and goat-breeding center at the Central Farm has been in operation to develop this small sector and so farmers who are rearing sheep and goats will see changes in breed quality and even new markets for exportation. On Thursday, The National Sheep and Goat Breeding Center at Central […]
At news time, representatives of some of Belize’s largest agricultural groups have written to Prime Minister Dean Barrow and other senior government officials. The Belize Agro-Productive Sector Group, after consultations among its members, says the lifting of exemptions to General Sales Tax on land preparation for agriculture, harvesting, and crop dusting services “could have some […]
One man who heartily agrees with the Belize Agro-Productive Sector Group is Orange Walk South representative and farmers’ advocate Jose Mai. He tells News Five that it is consumers who will really pay because of the state of affairs in agriculture. He also questioned whether Government was properly advised prior to the Budget announcement. […]
The announcement comes at a dicey time for the industry, which is coming off weather-related damage to crops caused by rains across Belize. When we visited San Carlos village in Orange Walk in the beginning of February, farmers were preparing to harvest potatoes, corn, beans and other crops. But they have since sustained extensive damages […]
A novel project that will provide sustenance as well as income to participating families kicked off today at the YMCA compound. It is named the Port Loyola Urban Gardens Greenhouse and involves families of the Jane Usher Boulevard Neighborhood. They have learnt to plant fruits and vegetables, inside a greenhouse, which they will consume as […]
February fifteenth is a big day for fishermen and lobster eaters in Belize. It is the day when the lobster season closes off and that means no traps are to be set and no one should be eating lobsters for the next four months. The Belize Fisheries Department announced the closure of the consumption and […]
The corn and beans crop planted late last year by villagers in the Toledo District, particularly San Benito Poite, was wiped out this past weekend by flooding. Villagers are staring disaster in the face after an unusually rainy few weeks in the area. The floods also caused the area to become inaccessible by road, reducing […]
The use of drones and lidar technology for mapping were not previously available for farming practices, but it is now here and replacing old methods of surveying in the sugar industry. With already an unusual amount of rainfall this year, the research arm of ASR/B.S.I. carried out the first aerial survey using the cutting-edge technology […]
The proposed move to transition to direct consumption sugar continues to be discussed among millers across the region, Jamaica being the latest country to endorse the idea of producing plantation white sugar for the CARICOM market. It is described by manufacturers, including ASR/BSI, as a win-win situation for stakeholders in the industry. Earlier today, News […]
The issue of Common External Tariffs not being applied to imported white sugar continues to affect millers. The Sugar Association of the Caribbean, according to McLachlan, is looking at the idea of assessing whether there is truly a need for imported sugar into the regional marketplace. Mac McLachlan, VP International Relations, ASR/B.S.I. “At the […]
