This is the Caribbean island Grenada. Its scenery is breathtaking. Its hillsides lush with flowers and fruit. But it's not all a tropical paradise. Unemployment here is more than 30 per cent and youth migration out the country is high. On top of this, the island is right in the path of hurricanes. There's little evidence now of Hurricane Ivan that destroyed ninety per cent of the island a decade ago, but agricultural production is still half of what it used to be. SOUNDBITE (English) Byron Campbell, Manager, Market Access and Rural Development Programme: "We're talking about before Ivan our agricultural export being over $100 million, now we're way, way below this amount, you know, not even fifty per cent of it." But now Byron Campbell is managing a new project that aims to change this. With funding from the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development, or IFAD, Byron and his team are working to restore agriculture's place in the economy. To do this, they have to help farmers to access markets beyond their borders. And the key, says Byron, is for farmers to make better use of what they have. SOUNDBITE (English) Byron Campbell, Manager, Market Access and Rural Development Programme: "Look at your natural resources. Look at what you have, because invariably we are finding that there are local resources that we can adopt, turn around and use for our own development." One farmer who has started doing just this, is Celia Houston. Her family farms everything they can – from cherries, to bees, to corn. But they have always struggled to earn a living. But when Celia became sick a few years ago, she stumbled on a new opportunity. She was cured by a nutritious herb called moringa and was inspired to produce it herself. SOUNDBITE (English) Celia Houston, Farmer: "We put our all into it because college bills to pay, high school to take care of, utility bills to take care of. It's a lot." SOUNDBITE (English) Byron Campbell, Manager, Market Access and Rural Development Programme: "I call her the moringa lady. She has researched this on her own and come up with all these creative ways of packaging." But Celia could only go so far on her own. She has her product but she doesn't know how to sell it. And this is where Byron and his team come in. They are teaching farmers like Celia not only how to transform their ideas into viable businesses but how to market and pitch them. Natural sound workshop leader You take the thing you are most confident about, and you start there. SOUNDBITE (English) Celia Houston, Farmer: "I'm a living testimony for moringa. So I am looking forward to where I could get a market outside." And Byron and his team will help Celia to access these outside markets by providing financial support. According to the funding organisation IFAD, this is the best way to get Grenada's agricultural products back on the global map. SOUNDBITE (English) Paulo Silveri, Grenada Country Programme Manager, IFAD: "The idea is to invest in quality and to let the world know about these products so that they can reach everywhere and the production and agricultural production can be expanded." And to ensure that this agricultural expansion take place, over the next three years, the project aims to invest in more than 12 thousand farmers like Celia, helping them to turn their small scale farming into viable businesses.

• published: 25 Oct 2014
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