And in the agriculture sector, Briceno told us that the minister has been keeping them updated on the diseases affecting both cane and cattle.
For sugarcane, the PM said that they're bringing in reinforcements from outside Belize to tackle the fusarium problem.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"He has been constantly telling us about this new disease affecting the sugar industry and it seems there's no real cure for it. So we expect that production is going to fall to as low as 900,000 and if we don't act quickly, then it could go even lower. It started from Mexico, it has already affected Mexico before and we suspect that it came from Mexico into Belize so we are fully abreast, I was to meet with Prime Minister Moody from India, they have been dealing with this a long time ago, it seems that they have the technicians to be able to at least slow down the spread and also have new varieties that can be able to better withstand the attack from this fungus or this disease. Since I was not there, Foreign Minister Fonseca spoke with him and he said yes he's prepared to help us, and I think IECA, the regional agriculture organization is also prepared to come in to help us so yes, he's been keeping us informed and he's been doing all he can to be able to help with this disease."
As for cattle, the New World Screwworm has not breached our borders as yet and the PM said that they're trying to hold it off for as long as possible.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Almost every Cabinet meeting we have, Minister Mai brings up the issue of the Screwworm, from its inception in Panama where by mistake, they released these flies that can reproduce as opposed to the sterile ones. And then that has been coming all the way up to Belize. Fortunately, and knock on wood, there's no wood I could knock right now, but we have not seen any instance of the Screwworm in Belize, but we have a few in Guatemala, and we even have a few in Mexico so it's important for us to be able to see how we could keep out this pest from Belize so we've been tightening up with the borders, we've been to several meetings with the Cattle Association, with the actual ranchers, we've met also at the border points, have meetings with people that live in the border points, especially Jalacte, which tends to be an easy border to move products in and out, to see how best we can keep it out. But we also have to look at the reality that eventually, it could probably come here, so then what are we going to do with the cattle that we have. We're working with the Ministry to see if we can get a group of people to set up a abattoir to be able to slaughter the cattle in Belize and hopefully at least start off by sending them in quarters into Mexico and then they can continue the process. We're trying to do as best as we can, it's a bad hand, but we have to do something about it."
