TECHNICAL staff from Belize’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security, and Enterprise (MAFSE) are collaborating with local potato growers to enhance production following a recent exchange visit to Peru.
Officers engaged with stakeholders in Peru’s potato value chain during the vist.
Director of the Research and Innovation Center at Central Farm, Luis Hernandez, said the aim of the visit was to provide capacity building for Belizean technical officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and to conduct field visits as part of the ‘Strengthening the Potato Value Chain in Belize’ project.
“The key outcome of the exchange visit was to strengthen technical alliance and to exchange experiences between both delegations on the value chains for quality potato and value chain products,” he said.
Another aim was to adapt new potato varieties to Belize’s climate to help reduce imports. Belize has a short production window because of its climate and potatoes preference for colder temperatures.
Luis said: “We only have a short period for us to produce and plant potatoes from November to December so the importance of this is for us to have alternatives.”
SIP and the Centro Internacional de Papas have been collaborating to introduce new potato clones tested in Africa and Luis said it’s hoped four of these can adapt to Belize’s climate.
