And the CEO explained that prices for Orange concentrate is also something that is fluctuating right now. Globally decreased production has also driven market prices up. We asked him if that is good news for Belize's struggling citrus industry.
Servulo Baeza, CEO, Ministry of Agriculture
"Well, I would want to think yes, because then it would show that there's a future and that people could go into planting situations, although you want to go into production right now for you to plant, it will take about four or five years before you start actual production."
"I think a lot of what was plaguing the citrus industry was one, the issue with the disease that really hurt in terms of production. And secondly, the issue during COVID was workers. So those are the two main issues that were plaguing the industry."
"Apart from some of the other issues that they had between the factory and the different associations and the growers and so on. I think by and large, I think that is those three things are the ones that have been affecting the issue."
"As a government, we're trying to see how we can assist in terms of whether it be, well, we did provide some financing through DFC. We saw that there was little uptake on the loans that were geared specifically for the citrus industry for replanting, for fertilizing, for cleaning up the groves and so on."
"There wasn't much uptake of that. Partly, I believe, because of a combination of all of these things, there was I think a low confidence in the industry. Some of these things are being looked at and so I believe that there may be opportunities for us to still be able to bounce back."
