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LAND-USE HISTORY IN THE STANN CREEK AREA OF BELIZE |
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Agricultural Potential of the land in the Stann Creek District Of the six administrative 'Districts' into which Belize is divided, Stann Creek has the least amount of suitable agricultural land. Only 8% (77,620 acres) of the good agricultural land in the country is located in the Stann Creek District. This represents 12% of the total land area in the District . Another 8% of the District land area may be suitable for farming with skilled management (Grade 3). The remaining 80% of the district is categorised as land of marginal value or steep slopes (Grade 4 and 5).
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| The Stann Creek District
Dominates Belize's Citrus and Banana production
Although not much good quality land is available, climatic factors make the Stann Creek District an ideal area for growing citrus fruits and bananas. Information from the Belize Ministry of Agriculture, extending back to 1987, shows the importance of this area for the citrus industry - over this period between 70 and 100% of the country’s citrus acreage has been located in the Stann Creek district. The importance of the Stann Creek District is even more pronounced for the banana industry. Official statistics recorded since 1987 consistently show between 94 and 100% of the national total banana acreage concentrated in the Stann Creek district. Because of expensive infrastructure requirements, banana farms tend to be large plantations owned by a few large-scale farmers, unlike the citrus industry which is composed of a mix of small scale and large scale farmers.
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| The History of Land-Use
Change
Most of the citrus acreage in the District is concentrated in the valley of the North Stann Creek. The Figure above shows the individual annual increases in area planted to citrus over the last 50 years, and also the cumulative area under citrus production. Between 1947 -1984 there was a slow growth of the citrus industry. Most of the development during this time was due to expansion into new areas for citrus farming, during the latter part of the 1960s. This development probably marked the entry of large-scale citrus companies into the small- industry dominated situation at that time. This provided a sudden step in growth, but subsequently very few new areas were planted to citrus until the mid 1980s. At this time there was a boom in growth, with over 9,000 new acres planted (~ 2/3 of the current total). The South Stann Creek catchment is the only part of the study area that is under banana cultivation. This is not the main banana growing area of the District, which lies in the catchments immediately to the south. Acreage under cultivation for bananas in the South Stann Creek basin have been quite stable over the last ten years, in contrast to the situation with citrus. This restricted development is due to several reasons, including the foreign market quota restrictions in existence today. This is a big problem for the banana industry and will very likely limit future expansions in banana throughout Belize. |
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