The Toledo district of Belize is home to a population of small-scale farmers, including Mayan people. The district’s poorest people live mainly in isolated upland villages. The aim of the Resilient Rural Belize Programme (BE Resilient) is to provide financial and technical support for activities that would strengthen and promote appropriate agricultural practices and services for these farmers.

The project’s basic objectives are to:

• improve the incomes and living standards of people in the target group by bringing them into the mainstream of agriculture
• increase their agricultural production and productivity by providing them with access to technical packages
• strengthen local and regional institutions and reinforce extension and credit services
• build marketing infrastructure to improve the handling, processing and marketing of crops

The BE Resilient peogramme has been successful in introducing a relatively small number of small-scale farmers to sedentary farming, which favoured the expansion of mechanized rice cultivation. Through support from the project, farmers’ organizations have gained some basic experience in self-management for development.

Source: President's report (15/04/2018)