Citrus is the second largest agricultural industry. Cultivation is concentrated in the Southern districts of Stann Creek and Toledo. However, expansion in cultivation has been recorded in the Western district of Cayo. The total area under cultivation is approximately 27,977 hectares. Members of the Belize Citrus Growers Association provide Citrus Products of Belize Ltd., the main processor, with citrus fruits, mainly oranges, and grapefruits.

Crop Forecast

Citrus deliveries for 2015/2016 crop year should benefit from higher yields as a result of good weather and continued success of measures to mitigate the impact of citrus greening.

Production

After flat lining in the previous two crop years, citrus deliveries dipped by 1.0% to 4.7mn boxes, notwithstanding a prolonged dry season that enabled the harvest to be extended into early July. Grapefruit deliveries surged by 25.3% to 0.7mn boxes, the highest amount since the 2011(2012 crop, due to crop management practices aimed at controlling citrus greening and the greasy spot rind blotch (GSRB) disease that particularly affects grapefruit. In contrast, orange deliveries declined by 4.7% to 4.0mn boxes, the lowest amount produced since the outbreak of citrus greening in the 2009/2010 crop year. Average prices paid to orange and grapefruit farmers declined. Despite smaller harvests in the US and Brazil, sluggish demand for orange juice in the US market caused prices paid to orange farmers to fall from $1.96 per pound solid (ps) to $1.75 per ps. Similarly, a decline in international prices for grapefruit juice pushed prices paid to grapefruit farmers downward from $2.51 per ps to $2.31 per ps.

Prices

During the 2013/2014 crop season, increases in world market prices for Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice (FCOJ) coupled with the Price Formula Agreement with the factory, resulted in the revision of the citrus prices by the Committee of Management. At the time of the report, grapefruit and orange prices slightly increased and stood at $1.98 and $1.45, respectively.

Exports

Belize exports most of its citrus products to the US under the Caribbean Basin Initiative. Other export markets are Japan, Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union. Table 2 provides a synopsis of the revenue contribution to GDP by export market for the 2013/2014 and 2012/2013 crop years.

Citrus Exports by Destination and Revenue

Source: Citrus Products of Belize Limited.

Banana cultivation is concentrated in the Southern districts of Stann Creek and Toledo. The total area of cultivation is 7,162 acres. Source: Central Bank Annual Report 2014

Production

With an output surge in the first four months of the year being followed by declining yields due to drought and then flooding in the subsequent months, total banana production fell by 3.8% to 5.4mn boxes. A major farm (which accounted for 12.9% of production) was closed in October, slashing total acreage under cultivation by 19.0% to 6,844.7 acres, of which 6,281.8 acres were under production and 514.9 acres had plantilla, which are trees that are too immature to harvest. In other developments, the Banana Growers Association (BGA) and Fyffes completed the third year of their exclusive marketing contract, which had commenced on 1 January 2013.

Crop Forecast

The expectation for the banana industry is forecasted to have a good turnout for 2015. The forecasted increase in production is attributed to yields and productions from the cultivation of new farm land.

Exports

Belize’s major export market for bananas is the European Union under the Cotonou Partnership Agreement which is now replaced with the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union. Under the EPA, Belize currently exports its bananas on a duty free quota free basis. A major contention over the years was a long-standing World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over bananas. Belize, as a member of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group exports its bananas under preferential (duty free) rates to the European Union (EU). However, Latin American exporters of bananas also compete on the world market and export bananas to the EU but unlike the ACP countries, are not allowed to export under similar preferential terms.  Latin American Countries consider this discriminatory and thus in contravention of the WTO’s core principle of Most Favored Nation Treatment. (View Chronology of GATT/WTO Dispute) for more information. In essence, the Latin Americans want the tariff that the EU levies on their bananas to be reduced with a view to elimination. ACP exporters, on the other hand, contend that the Latin American exporters have a comparable advantage in production of bananas since big firms such as Chiquita have economies of scale and thus, are better equipped to produce bananas more efficiently unlike poor developing banana exporters such as Belize. After much negotiation, an Agreement on Trade on Bananas was recently reached on 15th December 2009 between the Latin American exporters and the EU. (View Agreement) Essentially, the Agreement stipulates that the EU should not reintroduce measures that discriminate among bananas distributors based on the ownership or control of the distributor or the source of the bananas, and to maintain a non-discriminatory, tariff-only regime for the importation of bananas. The agreement provides for staged EU tariff cuts starting on 15th December 2009 from 148€/metric tonne(mt) to 114€/mt by 1st January 2017. In effect, the new Agreement will bring the EU into compliance with its obligations under the WTO Agreement.

Impact on Belize

Even though Belize does not pay any duties on its Bananas to the EU, it will have to compete among larger exporters of bananas such as the Latin Americans that produce on a larger scale at cost-efficient methods. With access to the EU market for Latin Americans (since the tariff charge on bananas will be reduced significantly), the Latin Americans will have improved market access conditions to the EU. In effect, this will allow for more bananas on the market to the EU which will eventually have a negative effect on prices on bananas. Mr. Sam Mathias, representative at the BGA, commented, “this [the agreement] had been coming for sometime so it is no real big shock.” There is a slight comfort in the fact that there are mitigation funds assigned to ACP suppliers to absorb the shocks that will be eminent from the Agreement. Mathias emphasized, “the utilization of these funds should be possible at the start of the tariff reduction period, that is now and it is incumbent on Government of Belize to ensure that these funds reach the Belize Banana Industry.”

Papayas

Production

Excessive rains in late 2013 negatively affected the papaya industry. Papaya production plummeted by 39.5% to 34.2mn pounds, as the industry was affected by viral infections and floods. The problem was compounded by the difficulty of locating disease-free lands to lease for new plantings.
Similarly, papaya exports declined by 39.5% to 34.2mn pounds, as yields were adversely affected by disease, flooding and a shortage of suitable land for production. The steep volume decline outweighed a 6.1% improvement in the average price per pound and pushed receipts down by 35.8% to $13.3mn. Notably, Farmers have taken a proactive approach to address this problem by cultivating land that is conducive for plant growth. With that said, an increase in papaya production is expected for the upcoming season.

Exports

Belize’s main export market for papayas is the United States. Expansion in production has helped Belize to become the second largest supplier of papayas to the US, after Mexico.15 Table 1 illustrates production figures and revenues generated between 2010 and 2014.

Table 1: Production and Export Earnings by the Papaya Industry (2004-2008)

Source: Statistical Institute of Belize

Grains and Legumes

Bean production continued the downward trend initiated in 2013, falling by further 22.1% due to reductions in acreage and average yield of 14.6% and 8.7%, respectively.

Corn, while acreage expanded by 5.7%, average yields fell by 19.6% due to unfavourable weather, and total production consequently declined by 0.8% to 157.4mn pounds.
With acreage under mechanized operations in western Belize falling sharply, output of rice and sorghum also fell by 22.8% to 34.9mn. The cutback in rice production was due to a perceived oversupply on the local market, which is expected to continue into 2015.
Source: Central Bank Annual Report 2014

Marine Products

Annual marine output fell marginally by 1.1% to 16.9mn pounds as a modest increase in farmed shrimp was insufficient to compensate for declines in the other major marine products. The increase however, was marginal and expanded by 1.8% to 15.9mn pounds, as an unexpected decline in output from the largest shrimp farm was more than offset by production from two new shrimp farms and a 27.8% increase in output from two other farms. Notably, there were decreases in lobster, whole fish and conch. In the case of fish, this was negatively affected by increased international competition, as traditional purchasers were able to source certain species at a lower price elsewhere. The downturn in conch and lobster was due mostly to the cyclical decline in their reproductive cycles.
Source: Central Bank 2014 Annual Report

Aquaculture Operations

Fresh Catch has a capacity to produce 4,000 Metric Tons (MT) per annum with estimated annual revenues of over Bz$12 million. There are currently 140 acres under tilapia production and 150 acres (60.7 Ha) of production ponds have been developed. The production area for small-scale fresh water aquaculture is 15 acres with mostly tilapia species being farmed.
The previous owner of Fresh Catch had experienced financial setbacks and was foreclosed upon in 2010. In March 2014, an investor bought the company and plans to rehabilitate the farm and commence fish production once again. His investment is seen as a major contribution to the fish farming industry that was on a downward trend.
Source: 7NewsBelize

Marine Farms Limited initiated harvesting of its cage cultured Cobia. Its current capacity is 500MT and was projected to export fish at a value of approximately US$6 million in 2008. The main export market is the US, particularly Miami with volumes of approximately 10,000 lbs exported weekly. Prospects to increase production to 5000MT are positive. By the end of 2007, the company employed over 30 people.