Papaya Production Pilot Project

A pilot project on papaya production for small farmers was inaugurated this morning in the Pettville area in the Orange Walk district.  The pilot project comprises of five acres of papaya plantation and is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture along with the Taiwan Mission in Belize and the European Union through La Inmaculada Credit Union.  The project is to demonstrate that papaya farming is an investment opportunity for farmers to diversify within the agriculture sector in the north.  

Finance for the project is being offered by the European Union through La Inmaculada Credit Union Small Scale Enterprise in Agriculture and Tourism project.    

Celso Martinez is the president of the Orange Walk Farmer’s Association and thinks the pilot project is a great opportunity for others farmers to learn about papaya farming.

Technical support will be carried out by the Taiwan Mission in Belize. Belarmino Esquivel is the District Agriculture Coordinator and says that the objective is to train 50 farmers of the Orange Walk and Corozal districts in papaya farming and from which they will select the best farmers to continue papaya production; ensuring the best papaya for export.  

 

The good news is that the local exporters have recently had a demand for an extra ten containers to be exported per week. Wilbert Valencia represents Little Belize Exporters Ltd, the company that has agreed to purchase all export quality papayas produced from the five acres in order to meet his international demand.

Farmers receive approximately ten Belize dollars per box of papaya that is exported.   Esquivel says that each acre can give approximately 3 to 5 thousand boxes of papaya that can be exported.  There is a possibility of accessing further financing from Taiwan and other funding agencies for the establishment of an additional 30 acres of papaya.  The present pilot project is expected to run for three years.Reporting for Love News from Orange Walk I am Arturo Cantun.