Langley Park farmers receive assistance from Australian Aid

THIRTY FARMERS ON the Langley Park Farms have received an assortment of agricultural inputs intended to support their efforts to rebuild their farms after the eruptions of La Soufriere Volcano in April, 2021.

A release from the Inter- American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), said the support was received under the Direct Aid Program (DAP), funded by the Government of Australia through its embassy in Trinidad and Tobago.The assistance was provided through a project titled, Capacity Building to Support Vegetable Production Recovery on Langley Park Farms. This project has as its primary objective to support the reintegration of 30 farm families into communities severely affected by the eruptions of the volcanic eruption and targets beneficiaries from two agricultural cooperatives,Women in Agriculture Langley Park (WALCO), and Windward Irrigation Initiative Cooperative (WIICORP).

The project provides material and technical support for the revival and expansion of vegetable production on Langley Park. This includes the procurement and provision of seeds, fertilizers and other agrochemicals, tools and equipment, and two seedling production facilities. This will be accompanied by a technical programme to provide training in governance and leadership and Good Agricultural Practices for the production of fruits and vegetables, emphasizing the long-term management of soils impacted by volcanic ash, crop husbandry and sustainable farming.

The project is administered by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and collaboratively implemented by IICA, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour and the beneficiary cooperatives.

President of WALCO, Louise Sampson and Alpheus Nanton of WIICOOP, received the supplies on Wednesday, June 27 on behalf of

their respective organisations. Both expressed their appreciation of the efforts of all involved in making the project a reality.

Technical Specialist at the IICA delegation,Michael Dalton said “The project is a triumph of the efforts of both the beneficiary organisations, the technical agencies and the donor.We started to consult for the development of this project back in mid-2021 as we imagined how we could assist in the rebuilding of the Langley Park farming community”. He added, “the product was this project proposal which was accepted by the Australian Government which we must now seek to efficiently implement.”

The participating farmers received an assortment of seeds, equipment and agrochemicals to support their efforts. The project will provide more than EC$80,000 dollars in supplies to the beneficiaries over the next few months.The implementation of the project commenced in April, 2022 and is expected to be completed by November 2022.