BELIZE ANNUAL AGRICULTURE SHOW, HOLDS IT´S OWN FOR 2011.

Fernando Orellana, the young farmer of the year, AWARD at the National Agriculture Fair held in Easter weekend.


Edgar Tzib, adult farmer of the year in Belize. 2011 Easter, National Agriculture Fair AWARD
*** Woman farmer of the year, Araceli Vasquez
ANNUAL NATIONAL AGRICULTURE SHOW IS OVER FOR ANOTHER YEAR, HELD DURING EASTER.

The attendence records show a rise of about 1000 people on the Saturday. Sunday ran more or less the same as the previous year, around 15,000. This is the hottest weekend of the year pretty much and at my age I stopped going, because of the heat and lack of shade and benches to rest. Too much for me, otherwise I would attend. There was no mention if there was more increase in agricultural events this year from the farmers? People were complaining last year at the decline of the National Agriculture Show.

The THREE FARMERS OF THE YEAR WERE;

Mrs. Aracelli, the WOMAN farmer of the year. Mr. Edgar TZIB the adult FARMER of the year. Mr. Fernando Orellana, the young persons choice.
From the description, the awards were placed for these people because of the general diversified nature of their farms. Insuring against any one loss season in anything, by income from other endeavors, giving a good living year round. There are a lot of farmers these days specializing in one crop seasonal ventures. The ONION people overproduced this year and lack the ability to store and protect their crop for selling over a six month period. Most of the ONION farmers face hardship, due to planting and crop loans. Agriculture Minister, Rene Montero says the government will assist in planting the next crop. You can do three crops a year in tropical Belize. You can do more if you wanted, with staggering through irrigation systems. The Ag department is attempting to get the storage technology from abroad. The NETHERLANDS was mentioned.

We are soon going to be EXPORTING RICE and the rice paddy is now up to 8 million pounds. El Salvador is rumored to be the target country, if we can eliminate the customs duties over there, in a PARTIAL SCOPE AGREEMENT. CATTLE are going to EL SALVADOR already, through middle men buyers. Not sure how it works, but expect it is contrabanded across the borders, due to costs of government rules and regulations. The price for beef thus does not rise, but at least we have export sales, even if they are under the table. Our corn crops, continue to be exported both legally and illegally across the border. Where there is a will, there is a way and making a profit is the name of the game. All good for the economy.

Citrus people are worrying about CITRUS GREENING destroying the citrus industry. Citrus Greening has been around, all over the world for decades. It should not be a problem. Citrus seems always to have some sort of problem. The Citrus Greening is just something new to Belize and we do not seem to understand the options at the government bureaucratic level yet.

The TOLEDO DISTRICT is starting to become important in different small niche export agriculture markets, as the populations expand in our Southern district. Looking for a tripling of the population in the Toledo District over the next 20 years. The big problem is going to be sorting out the lands, surveying, and issuing of titles. Our LANDS DEPARTMENT continues to be overwhelmed.

AMONG FARMERS there is a solid feeling that the nation of Belize in Agriculture is on the move! Agriculture is seen as one way to get RICH. Many are doing it too. Processed foods for export are much in the discussion mode these days and more and more products are being produced. Some difficulties meeting with international standards are being experienced, due to red tape paperwork and associated expenses eating up the profit.