 One of the Department of Agriculture's most recent initiatives is a graduation ceremony for the 2021 Farmer Training for Farmers in Agricultural Regions 1, 2, and 7. The training is one of the many outputs of the enhancement of the efficiency of production, distribution supply chains in the fruits and vegetables sector project, often known as the Seven Crops Project, which continues to fulfill its mandate of reducing St. Lucia's food import bill. President of the Farmer Training, Wilson Alfred, in expressing gratitude on behalf of the farmers in his training court, says the information received will only serve to enable farmers to capitalise on future opportunities within the sector and improve their output. Diseases, pests, all of those issues and the other thing about record keeping, I think I mentioned that and I think that record keeping farmers will go a long way in guiding or providing data for the Ministry of Agriculture in terms of various aspects of what it is we do, what it is we don't do, and where on island we are practicing what we are doing so that they can probably influence policy in terms of land use and land redistribution throughout the country in terms of what we can produce for sustainability for the country. I mean, these are the things I was thinking about in terms of benefits of the programme and how we can extend it. Human and Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Barry-Morphy Lucia reaffirms the Ministry's commitment to assisting local farmers, particularly in light of the setbacks within the industry caused by Hurricane Elsa, saying that the Department's recent acquisition of 5 million in funding will soon be released in order to begin the rollout of farmer aid. We intend first of all to provide support to those hardest hit first, but others unplanted farmers and see what other support we can give to those other farmers in terms of greenhouses and the like. So that is honestly, I felt it important to reassure you as promising farmers, as farmers that the government of agriculture is serious about your success, and we're not just talking the talk, but we're providing the financing to show that we are well behind you and supporting you. Mr Feliciae praised the farmers on their commitment to completing the certification programme and encouraged them to use it as a tool to improve themselves and the agricultural industry as a whole. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.