FAO – WATER ENERGY FOOD NEXUS PROJECT

The government of Mexico (AMEXCID) funded a FAO project which has three components. The areas covered through this funding are Aquaculture, School feeding and Water energy. Antigua and Barbuda along with Barbados, Jamaica and St. Kitts/Nevis selected to participate in the Water Energy Food Nexus Project.

The project is intended to provide access of the natural resource through rainwater harvesting, storage and distribution while minimizing tremendous wastage. Twenty-six (26) farmers on Antigua and Barbuda stand to benefit from this project through a capacity building workshop and they will be recipients of water tanks or water bladders, solar powered pumps and irrigation drip lines.

According to Mali Barnes, project Co-ordinator, “Antigua and Barbuda is really in a unique geographical location where we do not receive much rain, we don’t have many hills and mountains so we don’t have the constant showers that some of our neighbours may have. We do not have the streams, the rivers or lakes. However, even though Climate Change is a global issue we suffer really badly because we just do not have the natural water resources like the others may have. Therefore, what we have to do is to come up with ways to cope and adapt to Climate Change. The droughts are getting longer, the storms are getting more intense, the rain patterns are more erratic and less predictable, so we need to do what we can to adapt and be more resilient”. This project will assist farmers to have water catchments to use during the dry seasons to supply the water they need and likewise during the wet season water could be harvested and stored.

The overall impact of the project is to promote and increase Food production and Security in the Caribbean through improved water and energy management in addition to increase the resilience to Climate Change.

 

                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WATER BLADDER                                                              WATER TANK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLAR WATER PUMP