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Technical Assistance to Support Banana Accompanying Measures in Belize, 2012 e 2013

Details

  • Project: Technical Assistance to Support Banana Accompanying Measures in Belize, 2012 e 2013
  • Contracting Authority : European Union
  • Location : Belize
  • Period: 2013-2018

Project Description

The overall objective of the project is to foster social and economic development leading to the reduction of poverty, focusing on workers in the banana belt  and their families.

The specific objective is to increase the efficiency of banana production, improve economic and social development and strengthen the existing policy and institutional framework.

Expected Results

R1. Increasing the efficiency of banana production, while decreasing the environmental impact of the industry, by improving productivity whilst safeguarding environmental sustainability. This will be achieved through, among other things, facilitating good agronomic practices, improving land clearing and preparation,  strengthening extension services, enhancing the access to credit and developing the capacity to produce high quality planting material and strengthening disease/pest management which will result in a more resilient and environmentally  sensitive  industry,  whilst  reducing  the  exposure  of  workers  to pesticides through a worker safety programme. This will be accompanied by strengthening key institutions in research and development and the marketing capacity of the Banana Grower Association (BGA), supporting the Sigatoka management and change of the structure of the BGA in order to completely separate agronomic technical functions from the commercial functions.

This component also includes the capacity strengthening of the Banana Growers Association and the competitiveness of the banana industry through supporting an agreed action plan.

R2. Improving economic and social development of the target region, by promoting social sector development  through  investments  in  social  infrastructure  including  roads and water as well as improving the access to primary and secondary education and vocational training. It further seeks to develop markets for agriculture as a sustainable source of income and build the capacity for local governance and local level planning.

R3. Strengthening implementation capacity and the policy and institutional framework. This will be achieved through: i) Support to Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and to monitoring and evaluation capacity of relevant institutions; ii)  reducing barriers to entry into the industry and to provide the necessary security to all stakeholders, the regulatory framework for the banana industry needs to be reformed and strengthened.