CABO VERDE / GUTERRES CLIMATE ADAPTATION

22-Jan-2023 00:05:02
Secretary-General António Guterres spent Sunday in the island of Santo Antão, where, after five years of intense drought, a group of projects supported by the United Nations hopes to transform the agricultural sector of these Atlantic islands. UNIFEED

Available Language: English
Type
Language
Format
Acquire
/
English
Other Formats
Description
STORY: CABO VERDE / GUTERRES CLIMATE ADAPTATION
TRT: 05:02
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: PORTUGUESE / ENGLISH / CREOLE / NATS

DATELINE: 22 JANUARY 2023, SANTO ANTÃO, CABO VERDE

SHOTLIST:

1. Various shots, Secretary-General António Guterres and spouse on ferry to Santo Antão
2. Zoom out, Santo Antão coastline
3. Tracking shot, motorcade
4. Zoom out, lighthouse
5. Aerial shot, Paul Valley
6. Aerial shot, terrace plantations
7. Various shots, farmer tilling land
8. Aerial shot, plantations on river bed
9. Various shots, aerial views of terrace plantations
10. Med shot, Dairson da Cruz Duarte preparing agricultural products display
11. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Dairson da Cruz Duarte, Farmer:
“Now, like I said, in the past there were many farmers younger and older than me. Young people like me decided to leave. I don’t know if 10 young people live there right now. I can say that I am the oldest young person there, at 33, besides the older ones who live there. The other ones all left for other places, because of the lack of jobs, rain, drought, sometimes even if you have livestock, you don’t have enough forage to feed them. There is no other livelihood, so they left for better life.”
12. Close up, agricultural products display
13. Med shot, Guterres speaking with Amilcar Vera Cruz
14. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Amilcar Vera Cruz, Farmer:
“We hope the association is a way to open new horizons in terms of markets. We have other difficulties, but that’s what has delayed the agricultural development, the selling of the products, the changes in prices. Sometimes you don’t make enough to cover the production costs.”
15. Tilt up, Guterres checking out agricultural products
16. Various shots, Guterres talking to Katya Neves
17. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Katya Neves, Assistant Representative, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“Cabo Verde, as a Small Island State, we know that is extremely vulnerable not only to natural disasters and climate factors but also external shocks. As a SID, with a small surface, it also doesn’t have the conditions to produce what the population needs for food security.”
18. Med shot, Guterres talking to da Cruz Duarte and Angela Silva
19. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Angela Silva, Farmer:
“It was almost all sugar cane, but I am taking it out of some lots to put banana trees, a little bit of vegetables, and also papaya trees. Because my dream is to transform it into a forest of food for my kids and also my grandkids.”
20. Med shot, Guterres talking to Sara Estrela
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Sara Estrela, Sustainable Development Assistant, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“It’s a project that is happening in a very small municipality, in Paul, that is aimed for agriculture, but a bigger goal is targeting the whole sector and trying to organize the whole chain, from putting the seed on the floor to putting the food on the plate. We are empowering the producers with knowledge and equipment.”
22. Pan right, sugar cane plantations
23. Various shots, new agricultural

STORYLINE:

Secretary-General António Guterres today (22 Jan) spent Sunday in the island of Santo Antão, where, after five years of intense drought, a group of projects supported by the United Nations hopes to transform the agricultural sector of these Atlantic islands.
The lush Paúl Valley, in the mountainous island of Santo Antão, the westernmost island of Cabo Verde, represents an oasis in an archipelago where only 10 percent of the land is arable. Of that already small area, close to 18 percent was lost between the years 2000 and 2020.

As Guterres visited one of the terraces, on the second day of his trip to the country and was welcomed by a group of farmers. A young farmer, Dairson da Cruz Duarte, brought coffee to the Secretary-General, who didn’t know the island produced it.

The farmer explained that the beans are grown all the way up in Santa Isabel, a locality at the top of the highest mountain the eyes can reach, a ragged edge where the green of the land meets the blue of the sky.

That remoteness made the last five years of drought especially hard for this population. The young ones were the first to leave.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Dairson da Cruz Duarte, Farmer:
“Now, like I said, in the past there were many farmers younger and older than me. Young people like me decided to leave. I don’t know if 10 young people live there right now. I can say that I am the oldest young person there, at 33, besides the older ones who live there. The other ones all left for other places, because of the lack of jobs, rain, drought, sometimes even if you have livestock, you don’t have enough forage to feed them. There is no other livelihood, so they left for better life.”

Amilcar Vera Cruz, a 58-year-old farmer, spoke of the difficulty of getting produce to the markets.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Amilcar Vera Cruz, Farmer:
“We hope the association is a way to open new horizons in terms of markets. We have other difficulties, but that’s what has delayed the agricultural development, the selling of the products, the changes in prices. Sometimes you don’t make enough to cover the production costs.”

Next to them, an expert from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Katya Neves, explained that he was in the middle of an experimental garden, where men and women are trying out new varieties and learning about sustainable techniques.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Katya Neves, Assistant Representative, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“Cabo Verde, as a Small Island State, we know that is extremely vulnerable not only to natural disasters and climate factors but also external shocks. As a SID, with a small surface, it also doesn’t have the conditions to produce what the population needs for food security.”

“Gota a gota” is one of the initiatives, and it has been making drip irrigation more accessible to hundreds of farmers.

Angela Silva, also met the Secretary-General, and is one of the beneficiaries that hopes to start installing the drip system soon.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Angela Silva, Farmer:
“It was almost all sugar cane, but I am taking it out of some lots to put banana trees, a little bit of vegetables, and also papaya trees. Because my dream is to transform it into a forest of food for my kids and also my grandkids.”

The initiative is benefiting around 285 farmers and is part of a large group of projects lead by UN agencies and other partners that hopes to transform the agriculture in the country to feed more people and be more sustainable for the planet.

Sara Estrela, a Sustainable Development Assistant at the UN Development Programme (UNDP), explained that, historically, farmers are not usually organized in associations or cooperatives in Cabo Verde.

SOUNDBITE (English) Sara Estrela, Sustainable Development Assistant, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):
“It’s a project that is happening in a very small municipality, in Paul, that is aimed for agriculture, but a bigger goal is targeting the whole sector and trying to organize the whole chain, from putting the seed on the floor to putting the food on the plate. We are empowering the producers with knowledge and equipment.”

The food grown by these farmers, the same as the Secretary-General tried today, will be washed and packaged in the new warehouses, loaded into boats, and eventually reach children in other islands. At the same time, the project will be replicated in other municipalities. Soon, the example of Paúl will help feed around 90,000 students, almost 20 per cent of the country’s population.  
Series
Category
Personal Subjects
Creator
UNIFEED
Alternate Title
unifeed230122a
Asset ID
3003070