GCF reviews BAC-SuF project during Belize visit

The Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (CARI­COM) Cli­mate Change Cen­tre host­ed a project re­view meet­ing in Be­lize with the Green Cli­mate Fund and stake­hold­ers of the BAC-SuF Project.

The meet­ing, held in Bel­mopan on Wednes­day, fo­cused on the project’s goals and progress. The project is be­ing im­ple­ment­ed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Gov­ern­ment of Be­lize.

The BAC-SuF Project in­cludes the re­plant­i­ng of 10,000 acres with cli­mate-tol­er­ant sug­ar­cane va­ri­eties, pi­lot ir­ri­ga­tion and drainage sys­tems, in­te­grat­ed pest and soil man­age­ment and oth­er cli­mate-smart agri­cul­ture prac­tices. It al­so sup­ports in­dus­try trans­for­ma­tion through the in­tro­duc­tion of tech­nol­o­gy and knowl­edge sys­tems.

Par­tic­i­pants in the vis­it in­clud­ed Min­is­ter of State in the Min­istry of Eco­nom­ic Trans­for­ma­tion Hon. Dr. Os­mond Mar­tinez, Chief Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer Car­los Pol and Act­ing Di­rec­tor of the Cli­mate Fi­nance Unit Leroy Mar­tinez. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of sug­ar­cane pro­duc­ing as­so­ci­a­tions, the Sug­ar In­dus­try Re­search De­vel­op­ment In­sti­tute and Be­lize Sug­ar In­dus­tries/Amer­i­can Sug­ar Re­finer­ies al­so at­tend­ed.

The del­e­ga­tion con­duct­ed a site vis­it to re­view project ac­tiv­i­ties.

Sub­re­gion­al Head for the Caribbean at the Green Cli­mate Fund Cayetano Casa­do, and Port­fo­lio Man­ag­er Can­dace Le­ung-Woo Gabriel, stat­ed the Fund’s sup­port for the project.

The project pro­vides grant fi­nanc­ing of US$25 mil­lion from the Green Cli­mate Fund and US$13.8 mil­lion in co-fi­nanc­ing through farmer loans and con­tri­bu­tions from as­so­ci­a­tions, Be­lize Sug­ar In­dus­tries/Amer­i­can Sug­ar Re­finer­ies and the Gov­ern­ment of Be­lize.