It is expected that once the production/marketing cycle is started the BRFCL can continue production and marketing. Production techniques and processes and established buyers and markets will need to be in place at the individual level as well as at the organizational level. It is difficult at this time to demonstrate that this will occur since it is too early in the production and marketing cycle for most farmers. It is necessary to ensure that markets are identified and production schedules are developed if the results of the project are to be sustainable. Organizational changes to strengthen member commitment have been carried out at the organizational structure level, through the upgrading of the group to a company limited by shares, and the members into shareholders. This accompanied by capacity-building training for these members/shareholders should result in some sustainability of the project?s results.
Many of the individual members have relevant project expertise and experience, and are now pooling this expertise and experience for the benefit of all the members of the group. All executive members of the organization have financial management, accounting and financial reporting expertise and experience and capacity for generating accounts. As can be seen from the background summary of the officers, they have all managed businesses or projects that require these skills.
Capacity building in managing improved technology, technical assistance from Gov?t Depts. and projects, in-house sharing of expertise among the members. The parcels of land belonging to the members have been GPS mapped, and assessed as to their present and potential productive capacity and their owners? crop production preference.
Business plans will be developed at individual farmer levels for the production aspects, and at the organizational level for the processing and marketing aspects. However, one of the contingency (?fail-safe?) aspects of this project is that individual farmers can also carry out their own marketing of the commodities they produce, as long as they keep in communication with the rest of the group and are informed about the production schedules of all the other members of the group so as to know when their ?sales windows? are open, and by maintaining information-sharing about their buyers/customers.
Gender Focus
No formal ties or affiliation with any Civil Society umbrella organization exist, however there is close collaboration and communication with other groups operating in the Belize River Valley area, particularly women and youth groups, and eco-tourism and conservation groups.
The majority of participating farmers listed are male, in their middle age, however, they represent their entire family, and some of the participating heads of family are women. Almost all of the members listed have young family members, both male and female, that participate in the farming activities.
Notable Community Participation
Outward migration and a tendency towards drug abuse and violence especially involving frustrated youth have been some of the results of the decreasing economic opportunities in the Belize River Valley communities. It is hoped that the revival of agricultural production will enable these trends to be reversed by involving the youth as active participants in the family enterprise in both the production and marketing aspects, and integrating them into the management and coordination of the production schedules and sales. This will enable their skills to be used constructively and be rewarded within the communities and reverse the trend of outward migration to seek employment.
In the consultation process for the design of the project, it was found that out of 40 farmers surveyed, they collectively had a work-force of 78 more, or an average of 2 family members per farmer, that would be participating in the project. This represents the potential participation by the youth in the family in the project.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
The main benefit of this project will be the ability of farmers to have water available for their crops and livestock at any and all times of the year thereby revolutionizing the scheduling of planting and harvesting dates previously dependent on climatic conditions ? availability of rain ? and open up the potential for year-?round planting and harvesting of almost every crop, and for the production of livestock. This should translate into increased economic benefits to the individual farming families in this rural area that should also yield social and health benefits as well as an increased educational and awareness level.
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
The participatory consultation process to help plan the full project was carried out through several public consultations and an awareness campaign: workshops, household visits, and individual and semi-structured interviews.
Replication of project activities
There is plenty of space and opportunity to replicate and expand the project. The increasing threats and impacts of climate change on food security coupled with the knowledge that about half of the population in the 15 Belize River Valley communities is dependent on agriculture to survive provide the opportunity to expand the project to more farmers of the River Valley. The farmers who participated in this project have shown willingness and commitment to sustainable farming practices and an understanding of climate change and climate change adaptation measures. This project was not in this instance able to relocate farmers from flood prone areas or utilize irrigation practices to assist with flooding, therefore, expansion in this area is possible to ensure year-round production of food and grains. Additional replication and expansion would be most useful to farmers who have the time to farm and depend on farming. The project with some design improvements, should not only be expanded in the River Valley but provides a good model for replication in other areas of the country that are vulnerable to drought and/or excess rainfall/flooding and its impact on food and grain production and security.
Policy Influence
This project did not have any objective, outcomes, or outputs targeted at policy.
Project Results
Objective 1: Farmers from the Belize River Valley communities have adopted irrigation technology to overcome dependency on rainfall patterns for the growing of crops for home use and commercial purposes was partially achieved. Improving irrigation that helps with adapting to crop loss during dry season was achieved, however the same is not true for irrigation during the rainy season. The project was not able to relocate farmers from flood prone farms as its design of activities and budget did not contemplate the costing and the means by which farmers would relocate. Some members have been unable to use their irrigation systems due to restricted access to land in suitable locations. Members were also of the view that while the irrigation system provided is useful, in some instances water sources were too far (about a mile) from their farms. In the original project document, the source of water for farmers moving away from flood prone areas would be ground reservoirs. However, the decision of the board to give 18 of their 20 members pumps instead of providing pumps and irrigation equipment to clusters as originally planned took away funds available for the installation of the planned reservoirs (plastic-lined ponds).
Project participants expressed recognition of the importance of climate change adaptation. When asked of the members if they knew about climate change prior to participating in this project, they stated that they had heard the word before but did not know what this meant for the agricultural activities until the implementation of the project. They also stated that now they know what climate change is and understand the importance and impact of climate change. The project was able to generate awareness of climate change, the use of new technologies and improved knowledge of coping with weather changes. Members enhanced their knowledge of climate change and felt that they are now better able to cope with the changes in weather due to the fact that they are better equipped and more aware of the potential challenges and impact that can come about from climate change.
Objective 2 (Farmers from the Belize River Valley communities have organized and schedule their crop production and marketing collectively) was only partially achieved as the group has not yet secured markets for collective production scheduling to ensure and demonstrate an improvement in the farmers? economic position.
Objective 3 (Farmers from the Belize River Valley communities have increased gainful employment for their family members) was not achieved for the duration of the project. This objective can still be achieved however farmers will need to get their production underway.
