Belize looks to develop sheep and goat herding industry with help from Taiwan

Wednesday, December 2^nd, 2015. BMG: A release from the Belize Press Office issued earlier today, announced the signing of the “Genetic Improvement for Sheep and Goat Breeding Belize-Taiwan Project”, by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, Gaspar Vega, as well as the Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan), H.E. Benjamin Ho.

This three year project has a US $1.62 million budget, of which the Government of Belize will contribute US $0.35 million and the Taiwanese Government will finance the remaining US $1.27 million in order to achieve its main objectives, which are:

1. Improvement and development of the National Small Ruminant Center at Central Farm.

2. Introduction of quality breeding stocks and renew breeding stock so as to improve the productivity of stock.

3. The capacity building and technical training of the Ministry’s livestock technicians and officers, and the small ruminant producers in the country including the establishment of a traceability registry for the herd.

The release states that, “Sheep and goat production have tremendous growth opportunity on the national market but also on the regional export market. This project will complement other ongoing initiatives and place the industry on a firm footing for development. In particular the traceability/registry component will provide the base on which an export market could develop.”

A signing ceremony will be held at 4:00 this afternoon at the office of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, the Environment and Sustainable Development on Queen Elizabeth II Blvd, Belmopan City.