 A delegation of Mexican officials from the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation visited St. Lucia to follow up on the school feeding program of the FAO Mexico Caricum Initiative for Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change in the Caribbean, which aims to promote sustainable agricultural practices in the region. During their visit, the delegation accompanied by staff of the Department of Agriculture conducted farm visits across the island to engage with farmers who supply the school feeding program with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of their farming practices and challenges they encounter. They also visited several schools around the island and were warmly welcomed by students who benefit from the school feeding program. National Project Coordinator of the School Feeding Program, Cherian Smith, provided an update on the progress made by the students in developing the school gardens, which are an extension of the program. Smith explains that the school feeding program not only provides nutritious meals to primary school children, but also creates opportunities for them to learn about agriculture and food production. The Mexicans, they're doing a tour of the Caribbean to just follow up, it's just a follow up exercise to follow up and to meet the stakeholders, meet our students because they're the ones funding the project, so they're basically here to meet the students, meet the farmers and to introduce themselves to the stakeholders, like I mentioned. So it has been going good so far. We visited the Pasino's Combine, we're now at Fawaso Combine School and the delegation so far is going very well and they're very happy to meet the students and they're very happy to be contributing towards the development of the school feeding program in St. Lucia. The project ends in April so it's now left up to our ministry's health, education, agriculture to scale up the project and to ensure its continuity. Ambassador of Mexico to Eastern Caribbean states, his Excellency Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno emphasizes the importance of sustainable agriculture practices, which are essential for the program's long-term success. The Mexican ambassador expresses his hope that these programs continue to build resilience, to climate change, promote sustainable agriculture and improve the health and education outcomes of children in the region. To be in contact with the students, to be in contact with the farmers, to be in contact with the teachers, with the people from the communities, we know that everything is related and to have this special connection and to know that the good policies, good stereo policy that is working to provide some benefits for the population is for us something very special. I'm happy as an ambassador to the OECS states that some other programs are in benefit of the young population, for the children, for the people and again we will start other programs and we will continue working together with San Lucia to obtain better results for food security and to improve the qualities and the quality about the food supplies. The Agriculture Ministry sees the visit as a positive step forward for the school feeding program in St Lucia and for the broader efforts to promote sustainable agriculture and climate resilience in the Caribbean. The ministry is committed to continuing to work with its partners to ensure the program's effectiveness and promote sustainable practices across the island. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.