Traffic on the Philip Goldson Highway has been blocked for hours as President Tsai Ing-Wen travels from Belmopan to Belize City, where she will meet with the Prime Minister for a dinner at the Museum of Belize.
But earlier this afternoon, she was in Cayo touring the sheep and goat farm, which is a part of one of the projects that Taiwan has assisted Belize with. At the tour, the Minister of Agriculture, Jose Mai, spoke about the contributions that Taiwan has made to the agriculture sector.
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"In the agriculture sector we have benefitted tremendously from support to specific agriculture research and development projects, agro-processing and agri-business. This collaboration has so far played a dynamic and crucial role in helping to bring together stakeholders in the development of the agriculture sector beginning with the development of the rice industry in the early days of our partnership to the valuable work done with introduced fresh fruits, guavas and plums, strategic support provided through the agro-processing unit set up right here in Central Farm."
"Today, we are here at the national sheep and goat breeding center that is located at the central farm livestock section. The beauty and development you see here today is as a result of the great collaboration that has spoken of and that have also permeated this project during the last 2 phases."
"In 2015, the ministry of agriculture conducted an assessment and found that the sheep and goat subsector was suffering from poor genetics, a dilapidated infrastructure and limited capacity for the sheep and goat farmers in the country. Since then, the country has seen an increase in the production of small ruminants, improved infrastructures and enhance capacity to farmers. Thanks to the intervention of the Republic of China Taiwan of both phases of the sheep and goat project."
Tomorrow, President Tsai will be at the Biltmore Hotel for the Exhibition of Achievements of Women Economic Empowerment Project, before she departs at 1:50pm.
