Agriculture Minister Says Soil Treatment Could Help Citrus, Sugar

Fewer oranges and bananas are being grown in Belize. New figures from the Statistical Institute show citrus output fell by nearly two-thirds between April and June, and bananas dropped by about 15 percent. Sugarcane, on the other hand, went up. Overall, the country’s farming and natural resource output slipped about 6 percent. We asked Agriculture Minister Rodwell Ferguson what’s behind the drop in citrus and bananas, and what’s being done to turn it around. Here is what he told us.

 

Rodwell Ferguson, Minister of Agriculture

“The citrus industry has been affected by greening for the last ten to twelve years or more. I worked in the industry all my life before politics. At one point, citrus reached eight million boxes per year. Every year there has been a steady decline until we reached 500,000 boxes in 2025. There’s a gentleman in Belize right now. I’ve been talking to him for the last seven months to figure out how we can develop a solution to treat the soil. This morning I had a meeting with CARDI in Orange Walk where we did a sample area over a month ago to see how it will improve the sugar cane. So far, with one month, we have seen some progress. Once that works, we are going to create a solution for both the citrus and sugar industries. He is committing to us that within six months we will see results in both citrus and sugar. That is in process as I speak. In terms of banana, the industry has been affected by Sigatoka, I believe since Hurricane Greta in 1978. We are trying to figure out what we can do to reduce the amount of Sigatoka in bananas. I spoke to several universities. I was at   about a month and a half ago, and I asked them how they can raise some money to send a team to look at the research for banana, citrus and sugar. Just last week we met with another university that also wants to help us find the cause and how to mitigate it.”

 

Ferguson says results are expected within six months.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: