Powered by IFAD

Rural poverty in Belize

Overall, according to a National Poverty Assessment in 2002, more than a third of the population was living in poverty, and the proportion of poor households was almost twice as high in rural areas as in urban areas.  Almost 13 per cent of rural households were extremely poor, compared to 3.3 per cent of urban households.

A high percentage of poor rural people, including young people and adults, are active in agriculture, either farming on their own account or working for wages. The National Poverty Assessment of 2002 confirms that the country’s agricultural workers are far poorer than workers in other sectors. Smallholders usually have to engage in agricultural wage labour and other off-farm activities to make a living, relying on multiple income-generating activities.

Farmers who produce cash crops such as sugar, citrus and vegetables derive most of their income from agriculture. They are likely to be less poor than farmers who produce for self-consumption, but they are vulnerable to variations in the prices of products. The National Poverty Assessment shows that more than half of the country’s poor people are subsistence farmers.

Who are the country’s poor rural people and where are they?

In general, Belize’s poor rural people include:
 

• members of poor households whose main source of income is agriculture and fisheries, although many diversify their activities by working for wages on farms or for industries, and women often manage small and microenterprises
• members of poor households whose main source of income is wage labour, although they may cultivate small plots of land to supply the family’s food needs
• extremely poor people who live in highly disadvantaged conditions, often in remote rural villages, including subsistence farmers and landless agricultural workers
• young people who are unemployed and lack income-generating opportunities
• rural women who are traditionally economically dependent on men and who are constrained both by traditional gender roles within households and by lack of access to financial resources and capacity-building

Young people in Belize are more vulnerable to poverty than any other social group. Almost 40 per cent of all children aged 17 and younger live in poverty, and the proportion is even higher among Maya children. The incidence of poverty among young people is higher in rural areas, where it is 44.2 per cent, compared with 25.5 per cent in urban areas. Most of the country’s poor young people are unemployed or are not in the labour force. In rural areas, most male youths work as seasonal harvesters in agriculture or as paid employees in the services sector and to a minor extent in food processing.

Although each ethnic group presents internal differences and variations, some of them show a higher incidence of poverty than others. Among all of Belize’s ethnic groups, the Maya Kekchi and the Mopan groups have the highest proportion of poor and extremely poor people. Both are in Toledo, the  district with the highest incidence of poverty.About 80 per cent of the people living in the district are poor.

The Mestizos are the most numerous ethnic group, and they have the largest proportion of poor people. Many poor Mestizos are likely to include immigrants from neighbouring countries who work as agricultural labourers.

Why are they poor?

Most rural producers practise subsistence farming, using very low technology. As a result, productivity is low. Although farmers may know some technology, they do not have the resources to procure it. The lack of financial resources hinders the adoption of better way of cropping, results in limited yields and lack of income.

In the south, most small-scale farmers produce maize, beans and rice, practising a shifting, or slash and burn, system called milpa. The milpa system uses a combination of perennial crops, such as cacao and food crops. Most small southern farmers belong to Maya communities.

Most small-scale subsistence farmers in Belize have to seek off-farm employment or some other income-generating activity to supplement household income.

Because of fiscal constraints, agricultural research and extension services have been reduced over the past two decades. The supply of rural financial services has been quite limited until the present, and it has been particularly difficult for poor rural people to access them.

Source: IFAD