 Upon purchasing 17 hoop greenhouses from the Taiwan Technical Mission, Merky Xavier, a farmer from the Miku community, received additional hoop greenhouses as well as technical assistance in an effort to encourage the creation of more climate smart and resilient farming systems. A hoop greenhouse is a passive solar greenhouse in which crops grow directly in the soil but are sheltered by the structure with no artificial lighting or temperature controls. Mr Xavier, who will be utilizing the hoop greenhouses for the production of cantaloupes and melons, expressed gratitude to the Taiwan Technical Mission for all the assistance provided. I faced so many challenges in the rainy season. Your crops fail because of the excess water and about two years ago the Taiwanese had a pilot project here. They put up, they set up a hoop greenhouse and I realized that that technology can assist the farmers very well, especially in the rainy season because the problem you have is the water beating up on the plants and then you have the fungal infections and all of this. But with the hoop greenhouse, if you are going to get excess water you bring it down, your plants are protected. Head of the Taiwan Technical Mission, Mario Chen, explains that the hoop greenhouses improve the quality, taste, yield and marketability of the product and are especially beneficial to crops such as melons, bell peppers and lettuce. We saw the farmers they utilized our subsidized program to purchase the material to plant the watermelon and the cantaloupe to reduce the risk for the next year when the rainy season they come in. So we do very happy, murky, he uses his way to encourage the new agriculture to come in. In this time we have the minister or we have the ministry that assists the farmer on board. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development Honourable Alfred Brasper encouraged farmers to take full advantage of the new technological opportunities as we strive to become self-sufficient in food production. But I would like to see this emulated by our other farmers in St Lucia because this direction I want our farmers to go. Climate change is impacting us and we have to move in a direction that would ensure that climate smart agriculture is the way to go. These are new technologies in agriculture that will encourage farmers to remain in the sector and to make money. I am always pressing on the fact that our farmers should be in agriculture to make money and they should not just be seen agriculture as a hobby. And the information I gathered today with regards to the benefits of the hoop greenhouse I'm asking and I'm encouraging our other farmers to go in this direction because this is the only way we are going to take agriculture to the next level and ensure that we are self-sufficient in the production of various crops. Recognizing the importance of developing a more climate resilient agriculture sector, Minister Prosper has stated that he will continue to work with the Taiwan Technical Mission to assist farmers in improving their farming practices and becoming more resilient to climatic changes. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.