A new slaughter house facility in Willow’s Bank was inaugurated
yesterday. It is a major improvement because previously farmers in the 11 villages
that span the Belize River Valley used to slaughter their livestock under trees.
It cost $50,000 to build and will benefit more than 40 livestock farmers. These
interviews are courtesy the Government Press Office.
Dwight Stevenson, Farmer
“We used to slaughter underneath trees and it is not appropriate and
healthy and this facility is a great facility and it will serve us as a good
purpose so that the supermarkets and the restaurants can look up on us now and
see that there is a healthy facility and we can sell our animal much better.”
Hon. Edmund Castro, Belize Rural North Area Rep.
“What was occurring and the type of condition up to 2009-2010 was
the closest tree; when you slaughtered your animal, put it on the closest tree
and you can clean it and we all know that we are living in a world that in order 
for us to progress, in order for us to grow and deal with locally and internationally
in terms of exporting our beef, our livestock product, we must be state of the
art.”
Sammie Flores, Farmer
“The benefits will be that all farmers can come together and process
the animal much better for health, the kids can have better meat to eat at the
school.”
Hon. Rene Montero, Minister of Agriculture
“This slaughtering unit is up to international standards. The farmers
will be able slaughter their animals in a sanitary environment that will be
wholesome and safe for the consumers.”
Jessica Faieta, UNDP Resident Representative
“This will contribute of course to increasing the access to markets,
especially markets like the Mexican by meeting health standards so the producers
will be able to increase their incomes and of course have bigger possibilities
of developing their markets and as such improving their own lives and incomes.”
Hon. Edmund Castro,
“The Mexicans because they are looking forward to selling them beef
and we cannot sell them beef by slaughtering our animal in the field, on a slab,
and selling it across the border. It is not sanitary and without a facility
like this we cannot even be considered to sell our animals in Mexico, Guatemala,
or so and also this facility will not only be good for the export market but
also for the home market where we will know that the beef you are getting are
of the best quality and have been prepared in the most sanitary conditions.
I am looking down the road that you will walk into a supermarket in Mexico,
you walk into a supermarket in the United States, across the United States and
in Europe and you will see that Belize River Valley beef is on the shelf in
the supermarkets.”
The project was funded by the European Union through the Agriculture
Enterprise Development Project.
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