SOME 12,000 women, youth (both female and male) and marginalised men in five Caribbean countries are set to benefit from an agricultural project that will increase their impact on agricultural markets in the Caribbean, while developing more environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient domestic agricultural markets for economic growth.

According to a release, this will be made possible through the launch of the five-year Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean (SAC) project, which will be implemented in Guyana, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and Suriname. The SAC project is implemented by World University Service of Canada (WUSC), with funding from the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

The project in Guyana will be launched virtually today and will include greetings from WUSC, Global Affairs Canada (GAC); Mark Berman, Canada’s High Commissioner to Guyana; and Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture representing the Government of Guyana. Munish Persaud, WUSC Deputy Project Director, will provide a brief presentation on the SAC project.

The SAC project will facilitate linkages between key market actors; strengthen their capacity through training, information-sharing and outreaches; and foster climate-resilient approaches at every stage and via a wide range of key market actors in the agricultural market system.

This approach will help to increase productivity and profitability in the agricultural sector and will mitigate the impacts of climate change, reduce the Region’s vulnerability to natural disasters, and foster climate-resilient agricultural markets that offer increased equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic benefits for women and youth.

The project is estimated to indirectly reach 48,000 individuals, assuming an average family size of four in the project countries. In addition, an estimated 650,000 individuals will be reached and contacted through communication campaigns supporting the agency of women and young people, promoting climate-resilient agricultural techniques and raising awareness regarding gender barriers and norms preventing women’s and female youths’ access to agricultural markets, the release concluded.