By Zoila Palma: The Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and New Growth Industries (MAFSNGI) has trained more than 60 coconut farmers in the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts as part of efforts to strengthen Belize’s coconut industry.
The two-day training workshops were held under the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) global initiative, One Country One Priority Product (OCOP), which promotes sustainable coconut value chains.
The workshops took place on September 29 and October 2 in Stann Creek, and September 30 and October 1 in Toledo.
The technical sessions were led by the FAO’s national coconut pest and disease specialist, with support from the Ministry’s Fruit Tree Program, Research Unit and District Extension Units. Women and young farmers were among those who participated in the training.
The sessions combined classroom instruction with practical field exercises, allowing farmers to learn how to detect, identify and control pests and diseases affecting coconut trees. The initiative also introduced a citizen science approach to pest monitoring, empowering farmers to build traps, monitor their farms and submit weekly trapping results to agricultural officials to help track pest populations and protect local crops.
Following the workshops in southern Belize, additional training sessions are being planned for other districts.
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