 Good day to you viewers and welcome to the program, agriculture on the move. My name is Philip Sidney. Today we are continuing the segment as we move towards World Food Day and we're looking again at our tagline in the ministry, Eat Fresh St. Lucia's Best. Today with me is Cheryan Smith who is our food safety specialist in the Department of Agriculture and she's attached to the marketing unit in that said ministry. Welcome to the program ma'am. Thank you Mr Sidney. In food safety, lots of St. Lucia do not know what is that. People think they can continue doing the things, they can eat what they want, how they want, they can produce it how they want and they can sell it how they want. Give us a definition of food safety and quality. Okay. First of all, thank you for inviting me to your show. In food safety, what it does is that it controls the hazard to the consumers. A foodborne hazard would be things like microorganisms, biological, chemical, physical properties that are found in your food that are not supposed to be in your food and these things are on fit for eating. So when I say biological, we're referring to things like virus, bacteria, these things have no place in food. When I say chemical, things like pesticide, they have no place in food. Veterinary drugs, residues, they're not supposed to be in food. Things like stone, wood, all these things find their place in food and they're not supposed to be in food. On the other hand, food quality refers to the sensory attributes that are attached to food. So how does the food sound? How does it taste? How does it smell? The appearance? And when I say how does food sound, say for example, if you open a packet of plantain chips, you expect to hear a crunchy sound, a cracking sound. So food safety and quality, they go hand in hand and the objective of food safety is to consume foods that is not going to be detrimental or affect your health in any way. Wholesome. Wholesome. Great. Let's go back to the primary production of food, which is from the farmer's source. Tell us what is expected from the farmer's point of view, from the seed to the plant. Okay. So we are the Ministry of Agriculture and the unit that I work with, we work with the farmers directly. So we provide training to the farmers for what we call good agricultural practices. Now good agricultural practices are a set of practices that we expect the farmers to follow to ensure the food that reaches your table is safe for consumption. So we deal with the soil, we deal with the seeds, we deal with the water, we deal with irrigation, the chemicals, how you harvest it, your packaging, your storage, your everything. So we provide training from seed to until it gets to the supermarket shelf. Okay. Let's go back again and tell us what is expected from the farmer, from all of the things you mentioned. So you go on the farmer's farm and then is it from the extension officer's standpoint looking at agronomy or would you visit him, say, on his farm and look at food safety? Okay. So from the extension point of view, what the extension officer does, the extension officer acts as the link from the ministry and the farmer. So the extension officer is the one that provides the information from the farmer to the extension officer. However, in my job, what we do is we work directly with the farmers. So we provide training, like I said, we fill visits that would look at his soil quality, soil testing, water testing and that kind of stuff. Okay. Now the farmer, say he has dogs or animals on the farm, pets. You also have other livestock, maybe have his goats roaming around. The goats excrete and the dogs excrete everywhere. You're planting vegetable, leafy vegetables like lettuce and cabbage and stuff like this. Unknowingly, the dog would excrete anywhere on the farm, okay? Is that acceptable and what do you do? How do you explain that to the farmer? Because you can get the spillage, it rains, there's excrete there, right? All the droplets on the bits of soil ends up on the lettuce. Now you know lettuce is leafy, you don't have to boil it. So at the end of the day, you get all your qualiforms and how do you handle that? So fencing would be a great way to go, but of course we know fencing could be expensive, tying his dog would be another method of dealing with that. But of course definitely animal feces on your farm is a hazard to your crops and we would advise like I said fencing, tying your animals to avoid such incidents. In terms of storage for his chemicals and also his fertilizers, what is expected of him? Good agricultural practices, they're different measures or rules and regulations that are supposed to be followed where storage, for example water, a lot of the farmers, they harvest rainwater, rainwater in itself could be a hazard. So if you're using your rainwater directly from your barrels to water your crops, especially your leafy vegetables, that itself could be a hazard because we may have materials from the zinc, for example zinc in itself, heavy metals, all these unwanted contaminants finding it place on the leafy vegetables and consuming those leafy vegetables could be in itself dangerous if I should say if one consumed them. Okay now let's look at livestock. From a livestock farmer's standpoint, what do you consider good agricultural practices in terms of where his pen is built, where his waste goes? Some people as you know they like to build their pigry next to a river source and they drop their waste in the river and now you know what can happen. What is, if you're referring to good agricultural practices, what should he do? Of course we advise the farmers that they're not supposed to in any way have their pens built close to river sources because of the high level of contaminants that we're seeing. So what we do is to try to deter them from using or building their pens close to those animal or river sources. You know we do for our first break when we come back we'll continue to discuss the way the farmers are supposed to prepare when they have SSS crop. After watching agriculture in the move, stay tuned, we'll be back soon. When you're out at sea, there are no service stations along the way or supermarkets for a quick stop if you need something. It is essential that everything you will need while at sea is on the boat before you leave. That's why pre-sea checks are so important. Checks should be carried out by more than one person to ensure that all essentials are on board. Pre-sea checks should include food stores, extra water and fuel, navigational equipment, safety gear and communication equipment. Before heading out to sea, always ensure that all equipment is in working order. You are stocked up on food and also extra fuel. Call the lighthouse to inform them of your voyage plan and inform someone responsible of your departure time and estimate the time of arrival back on shore. For more information on obtaining a license to fish, contact the Department of Fisheries at 468-4143. Welcome back to the program, Agriculture on the Move. And with me is Cherian Smith who is our Food Safety and Quality Officer in the Department of Agriculture. Cherian, we're continuing. Let us look at irrigation water. And just a while ago, we also mentioned, before we talk about harvesting, we mentioned about animal feces getting into the water and contaminating the water. And if, of course, you use that irrigation water, what can happen? So tell us exactly what do you consider good water for irrigation? Okay. So most of the farmers, they get the water from the crops from two sources. They get it from the river, actually three sources. They get it from the river. They get it from potable water, which is pipe water, and they also get it from rainwater that is harvested from their rooftops. What we are seeing with the rainwater that is harvested from the rooftop, it may contain contaminants that could be injurious to the plants or harmful to the plants. And if consumed, it can affect the consumers as well. So what we do, if you're harvesting rainwater, we advise the farmers to use drip irrigation instead. So if you use drip irrigation, the water, it filters through the soil and it doesn't necessarily or directly get on the plant, especially if we're dealing with leafy vegetables. Because you know, these things, you just wash and eat. It's not cooked. You do not have to cook it. There's no cooking time. There's no heat. Most of these vegetables, they consume raw. So we do advise them to use drip irrigation. Also if you're going to use rainwater, which is harvested, we advise the farmers to use, most of the barrels that we use these days are about 55 gallons. So you could use maybe an ounce of bleach, household bleach, in your water and you allow it to dissipate for about 24 hours. You must allow it to dissipate because the chlorine in the water could affect the plants as well. So you allow that to dissipate and you can use it on your crops. But we do not advise it for other purposes on the farm like drinking, washing, cooking food. We do not advise rainwater harvesting. Okay. And then from the river standpoint now, what would you? For the river water, we recommend that testing, testing, water testing be done and that is done through CAFA. CAFA provides testing of course at a fee and normally they would tell you what contaminants are in your water and if it's suitable for crop production and how do you take it from there? Yeah, because you don't know the person higher, what it is they're doing, the activities upstream because they can be throwing all their waste from the pig ring into the river. And not only for irrigation purposes, but also for consumption and also for giving animals water too. And that too, I think you have to be very concerned about too and normally people live in the river also. So water testing I think is important. We recommend what it is. Definitely. The other thing I want to bring to the fore which is very, very important is chemical use. People, consumers now are very, very concerned about what they eat and traceability is key. There are a lot of people who tell you, I can say it's true, that they rather buy the imported vegetables as opposed to the local one because they tell you our farmers have not been trained to the level of knowing exactly how to use chemicals on them. What can you say? Okay, so of late we've been hearing of increased cases in cancers and all kinds of other related chronic diseases. At this point we do not know whether there is a link between pesticides, pesticide use and cancers. Unfortunately for us in St. Lucia we do not have a lab where we could actually test for pesticide residues at this time. But we're hoping with our newly diagnostic facility, which should be open sometime this year, that we could test for those pesticide residues the maximum level that is acceptable and of course how we move forward with pesticides. Also, we do a lot of training to the farmers how to use it correctly. Of course, observing the wait time for the harvesting the produce because what we see a lot is farmers, they spray today and then harvest tomorrow. Normally there's a wait time period, you're supposed to wait, there's a two-week interval that you're supposed to wait before you can actually harvest the produce. But the farmers, they spray today and harvest tomorrow and that too can cause the food to be, that could be a hazard, unhealthy and like we said, cancers and all these kinds of things. And there's one thing too that is very, very critical, the question of previous last year, again you find the farmer would spray and then two days afterwards the guy's still an opportunity to sell and then of course he would harvest unknowingly that it was sprayed. So then now people have to be very aware or would they buy those things from? Yeah, that's what I'm going to. They have to be aware. Yeah, because right now it takes us to what they call the registration of farmers. Okay? And I don't know whether you can speak to that because it'll be good for me to say, okay, before I buy, let me see your ID to see where you come from. If anything happened to me, I can come back to you. So tell us about your registration. So the Ministry of Agriculture, we provide, there's something called registration and certification. Registration is different from certification. The Bureau of Standards, they don't want to be responsible for certifying the farmer. And if a farmer is certified, that means his farm is 100% safe. His produce is safe and we're expecting that every produce that comes from his farm is safe. Our registration program at the Ministry, what it does, it provides the farmers with a series of training. We now have a seven crop project that you are aware that is going on right now. So in that project, the farmers receive, in the registration project, the program, they receive a series of training, good manufacturing practices, food safety and quality, food handling, post-havis technology, they receive all that before they can become registered farmers. And to become a registered farmer, you have to go for your extension officer and the fee is $25, you come here and you get it done. Good. We do for our second break. You're watching our Recurrence and the Move, stay tuned, don't go away. We have lots of interesting discussion to come. I am life. I am home to millions. And I sustain millions more. My abundance brings prosperity while my scarcity can be deadly. I cover much of the earth and my influence extends far beyond. I have been around for longer than you can imagine, but my world is threatened. People need to take notice and do more to secure my future because I am worth protecting. Your health lies on my health. Your life lies on mine and plants, I... After hurricane, sustaining life and health is most important. We should take heed. Don't drink from any stagnant ponds and pools or directly from drums and outside storage containers. If however no other choice is available and you must drink this water, use eight drops of bleach in each gallon of clear water or boil your drinking water for about 10 minutes. Use food that require little to no cooking or refrigeration such as salted biscuits and canned foods. Use preservation methods for keeping refrigerated food safe to eat by salting, curing and drying. Discard all perishable foods that have been in the refrigerator for more than two hours. And remember, once in doubt, throw out. This is the hurricane season and we should be prepared. A message brought to you by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives. Welcome back to the program. Sheridan, very, very important too is that I know, yes, we're doing registration for farmers. Certification is not there yet, but one of the prerequisites I'm hearing, even now, even for farmer registration, you must have toilets on your farm. And that is key because one of the days when the farmer decided you want to just run there and drop this thing out there or whatever it is, and you can understand the problems that can arise from that because if the area is contaminated, obviously the food can be contaminated, especially leafy vegetables. So tell us a little about, you know, getting the importance of toilet facilities and of course a storeroom for him to change and maybe a place for him to bathe when he's complete. So all of that comes under good agricultural practices. You must, every farmer must have a toilet, even though it's a peat toilet, but I see a lot of the farmers now are using flushing toilet, but they use peat toilets. Again, hygiene, if hygiene is key, if we, the whole, the farmer's appearance, you don't expect to have a farm and you could just go and use your bowels all around the place. This is again a hazard because this contains, the fecal matter contains all kinds of... Hazardous. Right. So we try to deter them from using the bush and having the peat toilets, which is safe. So from there now, let us look at it. We're going to harvesting, okay? And that is where I believe it is very, very important because that goes to the consumer. Okay, tell us about harvesting. How should the farmer harvest his produce? And we're talking about vegetables. And how should he get it packaged before it is taken to the market? Okay, so every vegetable or every crop I should see has its own requirements for storage, for packaging. And speaking about storage and packaging, we do have a newly constructed pack house in Odson. And that pack house, we should see storage. The farmers should be able to store, especially for periods where we have scarce, where we observe scarce, right. So packaging, every step along the value chain is very important. And everyone has a step to play along the value chain. The consumer himself has a step to play along the value chain. Take for example, you go to Massey stores, you buy chicken, for example. You'd expect to leave your chicken at the back of your vehicle for the whole day, drive around St. Lucia and come back and say, okay, well, I bought this from Massey store and it wasn't good. Or you bought your right bananas, left it in the vehicle for the entire day and then say it wasn't good. So everyone has a step to play in ensuring that the food is kept safe. So for the farmers now, they would need to wash it properly. They would need to store it properly, observe temperatures. For example, using the correct crates, the correct boxes, plastic, using perforated plastic so that air can go through. So all of these things has to be taken into consideration where harvesting is concerned. Do you need to get potable water for this or can you use harvested water for the washing of vegetables? Absolutely not. Absolutely, we do not use rainwater that is harvested. Some farmers use it, but it is not good practices. It's not a good practice. We highly 100% recommend potable water for washing vegetables on your farm, for drinking water on your farm, for cooking on your farm. 100% potable water. Now, in terms of his harvesting and his gridding of his fruits, do you all give guidance in that regard? Just in other words, do you have the first, second, and third grid? So it doesn't waste his time to take his produce to the market and then a lot of it is rejected. How would you approach that? Yes, the farmers do have a gridding system, but what we see, especially for marketing boards, we find most of the, when it gets there as well, although the farmer grids it, when it gets to marketing board, there's a food gridding that takes place. So they grade it according to maturity, according to size, according to color. And of course, all of these things would can influence contamination because there's something called effluent gas. If you store ripe banana with green bananas within a few days, all your ripe bananas, all your green bananas would get ripe. So it's grading and sorting is very, very important where food safety is concerned. Okay, the farmer decides to sell at Farmgate, okay? He lives in a community where people would, it's easy for them to come and purchase from him. What do you guide him in terms of preparation, a place that he would need to sell his produce? Okay, so the normal regular, he would need a stall, have his stall with his table, his tray, if he could have a bucket with running water with the hose, washing hands, especially these days with COVID-19 around the place. So washing his hands. You know, if you're the one collecting the money, we do not advise you to be the one selling, et cetera. Okay, so at the end of the day, you expect a wholesome food to leave the farmers holding to the market. But with us at the Ministry of Agriculture, we do not deal with prepared food. Prepared food has its own rules and guidelines. As opposed to produce, we deal with fresh produce. There are different sets of guidelines. So the guidelines that you follow for prepared food are the different guidelines that you follow for fresh produce. So we only deal with fresh produce. Is there any interaction between Department of Agriculture and Health in that regard? Yes. And I say yes, because we do a lot of work with the school feeding program. We work in collaboration with the school feeding program and the school garden. So we find that most of the food that is produced in the school garden, the students would consume it in their school feeding program. So also we work in collaboration to provide training, community outreach. We do a lot of community outreach, a lot of training workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. However, Ministry of Agriculture, we do not have the power of enforcement. Whereas Ministry of Health, they could shut down an organization, we do not have the authority to do so. Okay. Yeah. Final words on you? I would encourage everybody to eat fresh, be mindful of everything that they eat. Also, we need to know as consumers that we play a part in keeping our food safe. Well, thank you for being here, Cherian. I hope that you'll keep on eating what is produced as the one who is the... You advise the farmers, so you too have to eat fresh St. Lucia's best. And at the end of the day, that's why you look so beautiful on camera. Thank you again for being here. You've been watching Agriculture on the Move. I want you to remember agriculture is our business. And eat fresh St. Lucia's best when you consume what is produced locally, is better for your health. And of course, you do not have to go to the doctor frequently. I'm not saying what is coming in is not healthy, but be mindful what is fresh is better for your health. Thank you again for viewing. I'm Philip Sidney saying goodbye and see you again. I recall a movement.