–Project designed by the Global Environment Facility to improve sugarcane resilience in northern Belize

SMALL island states in the Caribbean are among the most vulnerable in the world, and are working to build resilience in their agrifood systems, which are feeling the impact of increasingly frequent natural disasters.

This is according to the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which said that the situation faced by farmers in Caribbean countries, whose livelihoods are under threat, was explained in detail to the hundreds of thousands of participants at COP29.

In a statement, the IICA said that this particular event was held at the pavilion operated by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in the city of Baku in Azerbaijan on November 25, 2024.

Taking part in the activity were the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of Belize, José Abelardo Mai; the Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre Colin Young; and the Coordinator of Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Crispin D’Auvergne.

The statement added that Mai was one of two Caribbean agriculture ministers who attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference, along with Roland Royer of Dominica.

In his address to the other ministers and agriculture personnel, Mai talked about how his country is dealing with the impact climate continues to have on agriculture, saying: “In Belize, we usually have two maize crops: One in June and one in November. Recently, farmers have learned that if they plant in June, the risks are greater, because the season coincides with the peak of hurricane season. So, they already know that it is better to plant in November, although the problem then is that the growing season becomes longer.”

Mai said that the partnership with IICA and other international agencies is key to securing financing, technical expertise, and support. He further said that small-scale farmers are facing the brunt of the climate challages.

“Farmers are the key players in making changes happen and achieving results. Belize’s agriculture sector faces many challenges; this is especially true of small farmers who are the majority in the country. Funding is often not forthcoming, but the needs are urgent,” he was quoted as saying.

Colin Young, who has extensive experience in the relationship between agriculture and climate in the Caribbean, gave details of a project designed to improve the resilience of sugarcane producers in northern Belize, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

“We need to communicate and show evidence of the success of these projects, in order to expand good practices. It is essential to extend the use of good practices, and examples are essential for that. If you are building resilience in the agriculture sector, you are improving the living conditions of rural communities, and that fact must be communicated.” he said.

CARICOM’S POSITIVE IMPACT
Meanwhile, Young also emphasised the positive impact that that CARICOM has on smaller caribbean states, and made the call for greater, more rubust collaboration among the organisations, stating: “It is absolutely clear that we need partnerships and coalitions, because we cannot tackle this situation alone.

“IICA operates in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, building capacities and providing new tools; it plays an essential role, and we also have other entities that play an important role. But this assistance must function in an integrated manner to have greater impact.”

In his remarks, D’Auvergne explained that the OECS is made up of eleven countries, which are working to become resilient, even though climate change is evolving more quickly than previously anticipated.

He stated, “Until recently, many people thought that this would be a problem for future generations, but that has not happened. Today, a hurricane is capable of completely destroying a country’s economy. This happened in Dominica in 2017, for example, and the island took several years to recover.”

D’Auvergne said countries are doing all they can, but the lack of international funding is an obstacle in the fight against climate change.

“We must bear in mind that in many Caribbean countries, climate change is not the only problem, but that there are other problems as well. Tourism brings in money, but it requires food, which often has to be imported. There is also a problem of productivity, and an insufficient labour supply in rural areas, due to the migration of young people. If the objective is to build resilience, it is essential to attract young people to agriculture in the Caribbean,” he said according to the statement.