Along with Maskall and Bomba, the Nago Bank area serves as the “vegetable basket” for the Belize District and elsewhere; therefore, having proper road access is crucial to food security as it ensures that farmers can bring their products to the market year-round.

The Nago Bank Road Enhancement Project is an initiative of the Resilient Rural Belize (RRB) Programme, a six-year programme that aims to minimize the impacts of climatic and economic events on agricultural micro, small and medium farms and households. Its development objective is to build overall resilience to climate change for MSMEs by adopting new or improved climate-resilient practices, increasing and diversifying agricultural production, and facilitating small farmers’ access, including improved road access to commercial market chains for the off-take of their surplus production.

The RRB Programme is being implemented by the Government of Belize, with BZ$40 million in financing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and participating beneficiaries. Through a Matching Grant Fund, the RRB Programme provides technical and financial assistance to agriculture cooperatives like Los Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos de Nago Bank Co-operative Society Limited. The fund is supporting the fulfilment of the progamme objectives by co-financing investments that would improve, in volume and quality, small farmer agricultural production and safeguard food security in the context of existing and projected climate change effects.

By working with producer organizations, the RRB is providing support for the development of business plans, which identify proposed investments, including technical assistance and capacity building, aimed at achieving these objectives, and which shall be used as the basis for accessing support from the Matching Grant Fund. Additionally, the programme provides funding to producer organization communities in areas such as the enhancement of agricultural feeder roads so that farmers can get their goods to markets more efficiently and effectively.

The RRB Programme has also signed a matching grant agreement with the Los Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos de Nago Bank Co-operative Society Limited to assist with the construction of a water facility, a storage/packing shed, and climate-friendly irrigation implements as well as capacity-building efforts for the cooperative so that they can achieve organizational and financial sustainability. These efforts are expected to be duplicated among 30 farming communities across Belize.

Present at the ceremony were Hon. Marconi Leal, Area Representative for Belize Rural North; Dr. Osmond Martinez, CEO in the Ministry of Economic Development; Victor Espat, CEO in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Housing; Servulo Baeza, CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise; Dr. Geraldo Flowers, Programme Manager, Resilient Rural Belize; Ruben Pineda, Chairman for Los Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos de Nago Bank Co-operative Society Limited; representatives of the respective ministries, RRB and members of the cooperative.