В Белизе запущена цифровая платформа для связи сахарных фермеров с финансированием и услугами

New Sugar Smart Cluster Platform Aims to Connect Belizean Farmers With Funding and Services - Agriculture & Farming - August 14, 2026 - No Comment - 445 Yesterday, government launched the Sugar Smart Cluster Platform at the Escuela Secundaria Técnica México Conference Room in San Roman Village, Corozal, through the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre’s BAC-SuF Project. The platform will provide farmers with easier access to information, services, grants and financing opportunities. It will also create a shared digital space where farmers, associations, service providers and financial institutions can interact. The initiative builds on the existing Smart Grow system and is intended to strengthen coordination across the sugar value chain. Daryl Odenet, Senior Project Manager at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, explained the significance of the platform. Daryl Odenet, Senior Project Manager, Caribbean Community Climate Change Center: “What we’re launching here today is the Smart Sugar Cluster. So if you think of the Smart Sugar Cluster., you have the industry right now that is organic system, right? You have a value chain within the sugar industry. The idea of the Smart Sugar Cluster is digitizing that. Having a digital community where all the various sections of the industry, the persons, stakeholders, service providers within the value chain has a part of that digital community. They have a way of interacting with each other. There’s an element that has a marketplace. So potential service providers could market their services and goods there. Farmers have access to ready information from BSI/ASR for instance as the miller. We have the associations being players there so there’s this digital interaction that this platform and that is the significance of it that we’re moving away from the days of where value chain information has to be manually done, it has to come from the miller, it has to come from the buyer, it has to come from the service provider actually going to visit farmers or vice versa to interact and transact. So this is a digital platform that allows us to do so.” The launch came as the BAC-SuF Project entered its third year, following delays associated with Fusarium and replanting challenges. Under the project, participating farmers are expected to receive support equivalent to a 40-percent grant, primarily through services and agricultural inputs, including seeds, rather than direct cash payments.