The Belize Rural Development Project - it's not the beneficiary of any grand statecraft design or massive funding. In fact, chances are you haven't even heard of it. But in its small way, the BRDP is making a meaningful difference in the lives of a few Orange Walk residents. We found out what the disbursement of small - market based grants of $25,000 has accomplished.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
These are export papayas called tainong number one - different shape and color from the classic papayas. They are on the production line at the Eagle Produce Packing Farm in Indian Creek Village in Orange Walk. And if they seem shiny - it's not the light; they are. They've been washed to get this impressive sheen. It's just part of the operations at Eagle Produce which packs 10 containers about 370,000 pounds a week for export. They are both affiliates of Eagle Produce Tropics Limited and Abe Dyck is one of the owners
Abe Dyck, Eagle Produce Tropics Limited
"We're exporting fifteen
containers per week right now. We are hoping to extend that possibly twenty five containers per week and right now we would say no larger than that because it's a quite a job to maintain the quality and everything else but that is what our goal is right now. We are looking at possibly diversifying into another project which might be onions but we are doing some pilot projects on that right now. That will be done more with the local farmers around the area."
And that's where the Belize Rural Development Project comes in. The papayas come from fields like these three acres in the Petville area where 7 families are growing the tainong papaya. The BRDP is an initiative co-funded by the European Union and the government of Belize. The projects are diverse: from papaya, to the agro processing of Soya milk in Trial Farm - which, yes, also make cookies.
Baldomino Esquivel, Ministry of Agriculture
"Directly benefiting from this project. This is very import because this is the women's sector that we are empowering and it is considered that we are helping the most needed women in Trial Farm."
And there's also bee keeping in Yo Creek.
Baldomino Esquivel,
"We are helping or directly impacting the life of fifteen families or fifteen beekeepers."
And in Indian Church - it's tourism, not agriculture.
Baldomino Esquivel,
"That's a cart and a horse, three carts and three horses that will provide a service for the tourism industry and I think here the people, the amount of families being directly impacted or positively impacted through this project is a total of 7 beneficiaries."
And that's what the project is about, developing projects that are market based and group oriented.
Baldomino Esquivel,
"I think the message is that organization is a key element for success. United, especially the poor people, the most needy ones, they need to be organized to succeed, to be able to capitalize from funds like the EU like the Belize Rural Development Program. I would recommend or suggest to the farming community to get united, form groups, and to be able to tap into funds like this because it is very important."
The European Commission signed a financing agreement with the government for approximately BZ$18 million for the BRDP. The project covers the districts, focusing on 60 villages.
