Taiwan Technical Mission Strengthen Farmers’ Resilience against Hurricane

Due to the cause of climate change, St. Lucia is now facing higher threat to hurricane more than ever before. Over the past 5 years, St. Lucia has experienced 3 extreme weather conditions, hurricane Matthew, tropical storm Kirk, and hurricane Elsa. All of them have caused severe damage to the livelihood of St. Lucian farmers.

To mitigate the harm led by adverse weather conditions, The Taiwan Technical Mission and the Banana Productivity Improvement Project (BPIP) launched a Building Resilience Program to assist farmers to increase their resilience against threatening weather conditions. Tree crops including mango, cocoa, avocado, or lemon plants were presented to farmers and were planted to establish wind barriers, buffer zones, to protect the farms and improve soil and water conservation. At the same time, farmers were benefited by gaining extra income from the tree crops, biodiversity in the fields was increased, and the risk of single cropping was diversified.

Two (2) Building Resilience tree crop presentation were held at Union and La Caye in October 20^th and 28^th. Farmers in agricultural region 2, 3, 7, and 8 attended the presentation and gave a vote of thanks to the Taiwanese government and the BPIP. Tree crop plants for other agricultural regions are still being prepared by the Plant Propagation Nursery. Farmers will be informed when the plants are ready.

To date, more than five thousand five hundred (5,500) plants were planted. Over 300 acres of banana fields has covered by the Building Resilience Program. By the time the next hurricane hits St. Lucia, livelihood will be protected and less damage is expected.