Sugar prices have been cut, and banana is on the block, but there is some good news coming out of Belize's export markets in Europe. For the first time ever Belize has exported 56,000 pounds of organic rice to France. Locally it would be called dirty rice, but this rough hewn grain fetches prime prices on the international market. In this case, the 56,000 pounds sold for $42,000.
The export is significant because the rice originates from the Toledo district where 35 farmers are currently involved in the production of organic rice which only began production two years ago. With the export, it is slowly allowing for the Big Galls mill to become viable. As it is the Belize Marketing Development Corporation subsidizes rice production to a tune of somewhere between $300,000 to $400,000 a year. Organic rice production is being pushed to increase production to up to a million pounds in the upcoming years.