A Memorandum of Understanding for the Climate Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture Project (CRESAP) was signed today 13th of April 2023 in Belmopan. The MoU was signed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise, Belize Agriculture Health Authority, Pesticides Control Board, University of Belize, the National Meteorological Service and the Belize Marketing and Development Corporation.
The CRESAP project is being financed by an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan of US$25 million, US$2.5 of counterpart funds and US$18.20 million of commercial financing. Under the Project, support will be provided to agricultural producers to adopt climate-smart agriculture technologies via matching grants and private capital mobilization, and investments in strategic collective agricultural infrastructure assets will be made, to contribute to increased agricultural production and sustainability.
The total number of direct beneficiaries that CRESAP is expected to reach are 7,300 heads of household, of whom 7,000 will be farmers. When all members of the beneficiary households are considered, a total of 29,000 individuals (6.9 percent of the country’s population) will benefit from the Project, of whom about 28,700 will be members of farm households. CRESAP will aim for women farmers to be at least 30 percent of beneficiaries.
The CRESAP came about after the Government of Belize (GoB) desired to support innovative, climate-smart technologies, better rural infrastructure, improve linkages to financing and access to markets, and improved production practices. Thus, the GoB decided to develop the Climate Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture Project (CRESAP) which will promote the adoption of climate-smart agriculture technologies and practices and finance more resilient rural infrastructure, increasing agricultural productivity while making farmers less vulnerable to climate change. The CRESAP project will also strengthen the institutional capacity of the relevant ministries and public institutions. Given the vulnerability to climate disasters, the Project contains a Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) as well.
The Project consists of 2 components:
Component 1: Institutional Strengthening (US$2.9375 million – financed by IBRD) This component focuses on strengthening the capacity of key public institutions (government agencies and academic organizations) to support a more productive and sustainable agricultural sector. The component will finance goods, small works, equipment, studies, training, consulting, and advisory services to:
Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise
Belize Agriculture Health Authority
Pesticides Control Board
University of Belize
National Meteorological Service
Belize Marketing and Development Corporation
Component 2: Investments in Climate-Smart Agriculture (Total Cost: US$39.7 million, of which IBRD: US$19 million; commercial finance from Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs): US$18.2 million, and beneficiary farmers: US$2.5 million).
This component will finance three subcomponents: The three subcomponents are interrelated and complementary leading to the objective of strengthening the capacity of farmers and participating financial intermediaries engaging in climate-smart agricultural investments under the Project, as to be able to take advantage of the provision of financing to farmers (matching grants and loans from PFIs) to adopt CSA technologies and practices, and increasing their productivity, levels of income and resiliency to climate change and weather events.
Present for the signing was Minister of Agriculture, Security and Enterprise Jose Abelardo Mai, CEO Servulo Baeza of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise and heads of the participating signatory organizations.
