Making Agriculture Profitable and Sustainable (MAPS)

The objective of this three-year, Inter-American Development Bank funded project is to mitigate the environmental degradation of watersheds in the Northern Range of Trinidad and Tobago by demonstrating the technical and commercial viability of climate smart agricultural practices to low income small scale farmers operating in this critical ecosystem. The proposed solution facilitates direct market access for small scale farmers to a higher value market channel, specifically, Massy Stores, Trinidad and Tobago’s largest supermarket chain. This model is innovative for Trinidad and Tobago as the project seeks to implement a market driven approach to protect and restore key watersheds while improving farmer profitability and enhancing resilience to climate change. The proposed intervention, therefore, presents an integrated approach, leveraging expertise and commercial interests of a range of private, public and research institutions.

Project Components

Component 1: Supporting Adoption of Climate Smart Agricultural Practices

The objective of this component is to build and support adoption of climate smart agricultural practices in targeted agricultural communities in T&T.

Component 2: Developing Independent Testing

The objective of this component is to support sales of sustainably produced agricultural products via Massy Stores by defining and implementing an independent inexpensive testing protocol to certify the safety of food products.

Component 3: Positioning Sustainable Produce in High Value Markets

The objective of this component is to position produce from participating farmers as a premium product in high value markets to attract better economic returns.