Launching Ceremony - Climate-Smart Agriculture village - Belle-Mare

UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

Faculty of Agriculture

Transformation of Belle Mare into a Climate-Smart Agriculture village for climate resilience, food security, and poverty alleviation of its farmer

Project Brief

Climate change is directly and indirectly impacting the sustainability and profitability of agricultural and food production, and our farmers do not have the necessary capacity to adapt to these climatic changes that are getting worse year after year. Furthermore, unsustainable agricultural practices to adjust to these climatic changes can cause environmental degradation and exacerbate the situation.

A team of experts from the Faculty of Agriculture, under the leadership of Professor Sunita Facknath, and composed of Mr. S. Hardowar, Mr. N. Nazurally, Dr. V. Bhoyroo, and an external expert, Professor Vinod Lalljee, are working on a project in Belle Mare, which aims to demonstrate to planters an innovate approach to sustainable agriculture, namely Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). The project is being funded by the European Union and the Australian Government, and is undertaken in partnership with the Mauritius Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Federation, represented by Mr. R. Kissoonah, Mr. K. Ichamah, Mr. J. Sewsurrun and Mr. T. Chetlall.

As part of this project, 15 small planters have been trained on CSA technology to act as demonstrators and role models for other planters in the region, and have been provided with water tanks, indigenous drip irrigation system, composters, sprayers for biopesticides, tillers, mulch material, biofertilisers, biopesticides, seeds, melliferous plants, insect sticky traps, and other farm inputs.

Around 300 other planters in Belle Mare are also being given training on CSA, as well as a CSA Starter Pack, composed of biopesticides, biofertilisers, compost, insect sticky traps, and seeds of vegetables and melliferous plants.
The CSA training will also be carried out for relevant staff of nearby hotels, as well as other stakeholders.

Around 100 other small and medium planters in Belle Mare will be given a water tank and drip irrigation system each, in order to help them conserve water and use it more efficiently.

A simple, pictorial informative booklet and video on CSA have been prepared for planters and other stakeholders, and was launched during a ceremony held at Long Beach Hotel, Belle Mare, on the 18th November 2021.

Copies of the CSA booklet and video, together with the CSA Starter Packs, were handed out to representatives of the Belle Mare planting community at this ceremony.