The Agriculture Minister also announced that the Government is in
negotiations with the World Bank for a 50-million dollar climate
resilience program for farmers. The hope is that if this initiative
gets the green light from the Bank, farmers will start to implement
irrigation systems at their farms, to mitigate against future droughts
that might hit the country.
Hulse said that he is hoping that he'll be able to launch that one
before the Barrow Government's Administration ends later this year:
Hon. Godwin Hulse - Ministry of Agriculture
"It is also my pleasure to announce that the World Bank, having signed off on this, prior to this emergency relief fund, we were talking with them about $25 million US dollars - which is 50 million Belize dollars, for a climate-smart agriculture program due to drought. And the World Bank has now - having concluded this section - engaged us now again in detailed discussions to continue to finalize that program. I hoping that we'll be able to do it before the end of this year. But, we have to work with their timing. That program aims to make loans and grants available to farmers to improve their ability to withstand drought conditions. It's a climate-resilient program. What is exciting about that program we have a mix of 40/60, which means that the smaller farmers if he gets a loan of let's say $10,000 to do this, and he meets all the criteria, which are not going to be onerous after he has paid back 40%, the other 60%, which is a grant, will kick in. [It] means he does not have to pay back the other $6,000. You'd pay back 4, and you wouldn't have to pay back the 6. If he doesn't get the loan, then he doesn't get the benefit, and he's not going to get the 6 first, because we want to make sure that it doesn't go into buying a new car, or to buy jewellery or spending on rum or whatever. We want to make sure that it is used for what it is supposed to be used for. And mainly, it's a combination of catchment facilities for water, pumping from streams where those are available, everything to do with trying to come up with climate-smart agriculture, greenhouses, and the full gamut. That is what that will be for. The bigger farmers will - of course - not get as much relief as the smaller farmers. I think in the case of the bigger farmers, it goes up. They will be required to pay about 60%, and then get a 40% relief. This is still being worked out, but that is the concept of that program, and we're engaging in that as we speak so that hopefully I can launch that before the end of our term."
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