THE Sustainable Agriculture in the Caribbean (SAC) project which will target over 12,000 farmers from marginalised groups in Guyana, Dominica, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Suriname was launched on Tuesday.

The project is being implemented by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) with $20 million Canadian in funding from the Government of Canada. It aims to provide training to farmers in the Caribbean and introduce them to climate-smart and sustainable practices in the agriculture sector.

Speaking at the virtual launch, the Deputy Project Director of WUSC- Caribbean, Munish Persaud, said that 25 agricultural markets across the five countries will be engaged and local organisations will benefit from capacity-building sessions.

“In this project, we are going to pursue the enhanced equitable economic prosperity first by ensuring that the perspectives of women and youth are informing the actions that we are going to be taking,” Persaud said.

Persaud further said that the end game of the project is to integrate all of the agricultural stakeholders in the Caribbean nations, specifically women, youth and marginalised men.

He explained that this will see the various agencies being able to identify and address barriers so as to increase productivity and profitability, mitigate the impacts of climate change, reduce the region’s vulnerability to natural disasters, and foster climate-resilience across the agricultural markets. These will offer increased equitable, inclusive and sustainable economic benefits for women and youth, he said.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, in his remarks, said that the project will increase opportunities and capacity for women and youths in various agricultural markets.

“The Government of Guyana aims to help farmers grow more, be better connected to markets, thereby earning more and living better lives,” he said.

The minister noted that the private sector also has a pivotal role to play.

“At the same time, the private sector has a role to play as enablers in this system to increase their productivity, improve the quality of their production and their reliability as suppliers, and help build strong producer organisations to access the markets,” he added.

Also giving brief remarks at the launch was Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Mark Berman, who said that Guyana’s agricultural sector is vulnerable to climate change. He said projects such as the SAC are important to bolster the effects of climate change and economic resistance.

He added that the project comes at a timely period as Guyana is currently recovering from the challenges brought on by the recent countrywide flooding, the COVID-19 global pandemic and climate change.

“The launch of the SAC project is particularly timely as we consider the challenge Guyana’s food production system faced in 2021 with the countrywide impact of the May to June 2021 flood, coupled with the ongoing global pandemic and the issues of climate change. As the sector charts a path to recovery and resilience, there is an urgent need to build back better,” the Canadian ambassador said.