March 06, 2024
Belize Sugar Industries Ltd (BSI) is grateful to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) for providing a platform to secure US$25,000,000 of support for climate resilience in the northern sugar cane industry from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) - https://www.greenclimate.fund/project/sap035. This is another important development in BSI’s continued strategy to build a better future for the sugar industry in the north.
Following the worst drought in sixty years in 2019, which saw the loss of 42% of the cane crop, BSI identified the need for a strategy to help protect the industry from future climate shocks.
For many years, BSI has been developing new sugar cane varieties through its research and development program that are better suited to manage more volatile climate events. Through its partnership with the West Indies Central Sugar Cane Breeding Station (WICBS), a leading cane breeding facility co-funded by BSI, eleven new promising varieties have been developed. Broadening varietal distribution helps to mitigate climate shocks that may impact mainstream cane varieties. BSI evaluates more than 40,000 new varieties annually - looking for improvements and resilience.
Recognizing the need to propagate these varieties and to transform farming practices in the north to improve productivity and resilience, in 2020 BSI, secured US$300,000 of support from IDB Invest to create a transformation strategy, which has at its heart modernization of farming practices and building varietal resilience.
BSI partnered with CCCCC in 2020 to design the project to build climate resilience in the industry; the Government of Belize (GoB) provided a letter of no objection, allowing CCCCC to develop this project in collaboration with key industry stakeholders. BSI is grateful that this project was approved yesterday at the 38th meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The project will subsidize the cost of change for farmers who join the program, through replanting and soil and water management programs to improve their viability.
The project seeks to assist more than 5,000 small cane farmers to become more viable and resilient to climate shocks. The other elements are a new and innovative agro-credit scheme funded by BSI and launched by the Prime Minister in November 2023 called AgGrowPro. This BSI-funded program worth BZ$6,000,000 annually envisages service delivery and will act as a catalyst for the CCCCC’s project by providing farmers instant access to farming credit for service provision at exactly the time they need it.
The third element is an innovative blockchain solution (co-funded by Compete Caribbean) to reduce risk to lenders for payment for farming services, such as replanting and husbandry, by making the transactions more transparent, and utilizing GIS technology to track results and repayment of services through farmers’ cane delivery. Farmers can track progress through their cell phones.
BSI believes the northern cane farm must be modernized to be viable in the face of a changing climate. Cane productivity at an average of 16 tons of cane per acre is among the lowest in the world, and less than half that in neighboring Guatemala. No sugar cane farm can be viable at that level.
Modernizing means a move to more efficient practices, regular replanting of cane with diverse varieties, sustainable husbandry, greater farming scale through block farming and cooperative structures, and easier access to agro-credit and farming services. In this year alone, BSI has invested BZ$3,000,000 for new equipment to provide agro-credit through AgGrowPro – a smart farm service warmly welcomed by cane farmers.
BSI looks forward to working closely with farmers and stakeholders for a brighter future in the industry. The success of securing the Green Climate Fund (GCF) grant through the CCCCC is an important milestone toward this outcome. BSI is proud to be actively contributing to help build a better future for all stakeholders in the northern cane industry. When the project is officially launched, BSI encourages farmers to take advantage of this grant funding to improve sustainability of their farms.
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For further information, please contact:
William A. Neal
Email: william.neal@asr-group.com
Cell: 610-9774
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