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Today, they donated new equipment to the MET office which will aid by assisting farmers in their day to day activities. Those farmers will be able to access the information through an app currently in development. The Chief Meteorologist as well as the CEO in the Ministry of Economic Development and the Minister of Sustainable Development told us more.

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist
"It's a very exciting time. We have been working on this project for a few years now. And as I mentioned in my presentations, this will help to build the agro-climate capacity within the department so that we can provide information to farmers on what they can expect in terms of seasonal predictions of rainfall and temperature, so that they can plan accordingly and minimize losses in their cultural sector."

"So it's very important to us and we look forward to continue working along with the RRB in further development of this project. There's also another component I mentioned, which is the mobile app that we hope to launch if not by the end of the year, at least by the start of the next hurricane season."

"And that mobile app will help us to disseminate the information. It's one thing to produce the information, but also to get it out to the users that actually need it, and that will help us in that area."

Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development
"The farmer will be able to have this app and so the communication can be sent directly from the meteorological service to the farmer and then they can make those decisions of when to plant, the rain coming, when to irrigate, especially during the dry season, if they still have crops or whether or not they should plant that crop or maybe a more resilient crop to the dry season or maybe one that can take more water during the wet season, and to make those important decisions."

"From the government standpoint, it is absolutely important because this is an adaptation measure which falls under the Ministry of Sustainable Development, and so we are happy that this adaptation measure can be taken to assist the farmers."

"We see it also as a compliment to be able to fulfill one of the promises and the Plan Belize because we have promised that we will introduce climate smart agriculture, which is this is part of it, so that farmers can be able to use this information, produce food, and be able to have that sustainability, but also the food security that the country needs."

Osmond Martinez, CEO, Ministry of Economic Development
"The total package is 244 thousand US dollars. So this is just the first phase, which is $57,000 in having 26 sensors around the country in areas that has been identified. Computers, as you all saw while doing the tour, while the Met Office is so important in forecasting any natural disaster that is coming for Belize, you know, they need more help in terms of technology capacity and more introduction of modern equipment that will help them to hold the data and at the same time to be able to analyze and disseminate the data."

We'll let you know when the app is launched.