BELIZE - Taiwanese assisted RICE PRODUCTION information!

** staple food in Belize is rice and beans, with chicken and for breakfast add a couple of avocado slices, or cream cheese.
** Eating rice dishes
*** rice growing in Belize


TAIWANESE FOREIGN AID - RICE PRODUCTION MISSION IN BELIZE

The Rice seed mission in Belize by Taiwan had stopped when it ran out of money back in 2006. It re-started again in 2008. The biggest deal is in the Toledo District.
The Poppy Show Farm grows rice seed with irrigation. They have 25 acres producing 100,000 lbs of seed. Mayan farmers complain the MISSION keeps changing the seed types, which does not lower their costs. The complaint is; they are not making more money.
The plan next year is to produce 160,000 rice seeds. This translates roughly to the capacity of growing 1600 acres of rice. This in turn should produce about 5 million pounds of rice earning $3,600,000 Bz currency. The rice is used locally for self sustainability food supply. The current plan is to increase rice seed acreage to 600 acres in the Toledo District. The Taiwanese Mission is also assisting with some extension work in Mango Creek and Mango Walk, which is growing 200 acres of rice production. The Taiwanese Mission is planning to cooperate with the Grain Growers Association to increase acreage to 600 acres.
The Chinese of course have a reputation to do with rice production, the staple food in Asia. So the Taiwanese Mission at the Ministry of Agriculture in Central Farm in the Cayo District are planning to develop STANDARDS OF PROCEDURE for cultivation techniques and purification of rice seeds. It is guessed and hoped, that Chinese management techniques will raise local Belizean paddy rice production, quantity and quality. So far this hasn't worked out for some reason?
The goal is to reduce production costs to small Mayan farmers and increase farmer income and stabilize the rice price. So far this hasn't been successful, the small Mayan farmers complain. We are though producing more rice in the country of Belize, for our own use, to offset imports and foreign exchange costs.