 Representatives from pharma cooperatives around the island got an opportunity to meet with the ministers with responsibility for agriculture and commerce to discuss the future of cooperatives in St. Lucia. Limelight was placed on the need for increased business and marketing capabilities, as well as the challenge of high production costs faced by farmers. Recognizing the need for a shift in cooperative operations, minister for commerce, manufacturing, business development, cooperatives and consumer affairs, Hon. Emma Hippolit says that increasing the presence of youth within cooperatives is one way to improve operations and ensure their success. We have to have an injection of younger blood within that sector in order to have the type of governance structure that we want because we want to train them and to empower the cooperatives so that they can take charge of the business. They need to understand how it is to run a cooperative. They need to understand how it is to run a business. They need to focus on marketing. So we need to train. We need to expose them to the right markets. We need to look at the products that they're doing now and how we can cause them in some cases to work together. We need to see how best the financial cooperatives who are more successful can work with them and to hold their hands. So there's a lot of work to be done, but this morning our main agenda is to listen to them. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Hon. Alfred Prosper, who also recently met with stakeholders of the Fisheries Cooperatives explains that to realize success, cooperatives need to function as a business entity with the goal of creating a profit for its members. According to Minister Prosper, several benefits can be realized from farmers joining cooperatives such as decreased costs on input supplies, improved products and services, and a larger market and financial reach. Now the cooperative movement, especially the farmers cooperatives, have not been where I think they should be. Because as I mentioned earlier, the vision must change. Our world is changing. Food security was not on our table many years ago. Our food import bill continued to rise. So they need to change focus. One, to see their cooperative movement as a business. They need to be the capacity of the people in there because when we met the Fisheries Cooperatives last time, one of the main challenges for them was they do not have the capacity to operate the cooperatives in a way that is financially viable. And I suspect the same thing is happening for the farmers cooperatives. So I'm very happy that they are here and that we can work together because it's about bringing new members into the cooperative movement, helping your members make or generate an income from the cooperative. As there is a growing need to increase interest within the agriculture sector, particularly amongst youth, Minister Prosper stated that efforts to revamp and revitalize the sector will continue to be made to ensure its viability and sustainability. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Manisha Antoine reporting.