The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA’s) Crowdfunding project entitled “Mitigating the Impacts of COVID -19 through the supply of fresh food to rural Households,” has reached the Sister Island of Barbuda and those benefitting have welcomed the initiative in a renewed effort to strengthen food production and security.
The Barbuda component of the project includes the construction of a seedling nursery, a rapid multiplication humidity bin to grow roots and tubers, the installation of drip irrigation systems and the distribution of five different types of seeds to small scale farmers and backyard gardeners in Barbuda, compliments CARDI.
The seeds distributed to the farmers were squash, zucchini, pumpkin, cucumber and hot pepper.
The project is being done in collaboration with Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), the Ministry of Agriculture, the Barbuda Council Agriculture Division and the Ministry of Education, through the Sir McChesney George Secondary School.
The educational institution is also a beneficiary of the project with the Rapid Multiplication
Parliamentary Secretary, Senator Knacyntar Nedd welcomed the initiative and said that she looks forward to continued collaboration with IICA on even bigger projects.
“I hope to see continued collaboration between the Central Government and Barbuda Council on projects such as these and more so, those of a larger scale.”
IICA’s National Specialist, Craig Thomas said that his organization is committed to the growth and development of the agriculture sector and will continue to provide technical support as the need arises.
The Antigua leg of the project was implemented back in February when a number of small scale farmers received irrigation supplies from which they are already seeing the benefits following installation.
Antigua and Barbuda and Haiti were the two pilot countries selected for this project to the tune of 27 thousand US Dollars.
The project is aims to provide direct support to small scale farmers to sustain and boost food production through the improvement of irrigation and improved planting material in rural communities in Antigua and Barbuda.
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