Along with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ya’axche Conservation Trust (YCT) and IICA the second phase in building capacities in the farmer field school (FFS) methodology was spearheaded in Southern Belize.
In the first phase, training was carried out targeting technical staff of various NGO’s and partner organization with the objective of strengthening their information transfer and dissemination capacity. In the second phase, these technical officers were then tasked with establishing actual field schools to finalize the hands-on on training.
The YCT, stepped up to the challenge and coordinated the “Beekeeping management and production within the Maya Golden Landscape communities” FFS. This included 18 beekeepers from 8 indigenous communities in southern Belize as a well as technical staff from the YCT, the ministry of Agriculture and the cooperatives department. This activity also facilitated new partnership with other organizations, and IICA reached out to the extension unit of the Sugar Industry Research & Development Institute (SIRDI) for in house expertise for assisting in the establishment of the FFS. This resulted in dynamic sessions in the fields and was very much accepted by both farmers/beekeepers who were much accustomed to the traditional extension methodology. The sessions were facilitated by Ms. Leticia Westby, SIRDI’s extension director and Mr. Margarito Leiva, bee expert in Belize.
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