 Good day again viewers and welcome to the program agriculture only the move I am a Philip Sidney your host as I've said before we have had a series of programs leading to World Food Day which is on the 16th of October and you will hear quite a lot of what the Ministry has been doing in terms of various programs as far as food production is concerned today with me is Mr. Manus Cherry who is the manager of the Union Plants Propagation Station and he's going to discuss with us what is happening at that plant propagation in terms of plants that are made available to farmers and of course to you the general person who wants to plant plants in your backyard welcome to the program Mr. Cherry thank you very much I'm Mr. Sidney and of course thank you very much viewers and the general public. Great Manus since you took up this position as manager of the plant propagation station I suppose you can tell Saint Lucia what is meant by plant propagation? Well plant propagation is basically the different methods used the different methods employed in order to produce more than one of that particular plant and of course there are the new methods there are old methods but all of them have the same concept and a final objective which is similar which is the production or mass production of plants and so there are various methods of plant propagation you have budding you have grafting you have air layering you know and the list goes on and I suppose you can even speak about tissue culture is a form of yes to us is new however it's an old technique however that it is new it is new to us here in Saint Lucia not just Saint Lucia but in the Caribbean region. Okay and of course the various types of propagation if you go to scientifically you have the sexual and asexual of course you have the sexual which is by seed you know and then you have the other one which is vegetatively propagated as we mentioned by cuttings also yeah so what is the mandate of the plant propagation station well as you know the plant propagation is situated in an area that has a very rich history you know in the past we could say even in the 1920s this was a very huge farm and you had a lot of farming practices ongoing when I say farming practices I mean mixed practices you had vegetable production you had plant propagation production you had livestock production you had fisheries production and as a result of the potential that this area has has they are founded fit for plant propagation or the propagation division or agricultural stations to work under the crop development program of the ministry of agriculture and the main activity is planting material production just even before I remember some years ago many moons between before when I got to know about the plant propagation station it just be called Cocoa Center because apparently during that time the ministry was pushing a lot of cocoa production during that period and they definitely had to multiply a number of plants for farmers so the hub was Cocoa Center and from there I think they diversified into just what you just said a while ago yes yes so now what we do we one of the three revenue generating agencies on the Department of Agriculture and we presently produce a lot of fruit trees or fruit plants and ornamentals of which we would be able to generate revenue from. So what are the type of planting material or plants that you produce for the farmers and the farming community in general? Well we produce a wide variety of plants via the different methods we've mentioned and also tissue culture via the most conventional method which is grafting, air layering, we produce guavas, we produce citrus like the sweet oranges, we produce mangoes and the different varieties. For the ornamentals which are the flowers used for the beautification of landscapes that is hotels and so on we have alamanders our heavy cellars for example, xurras, bogan vealers are all examples of the numerous and the diversified amount of crops or plants that we produce. Via tissue culture we do some root crops we presently have yams available we have bananas, plantains and a lot of pineapples so it's a very wide range of both food and beautification crop plants. The mandate mainly is to produce planting materials for the farmers. How do you prepare see on an annual basis do you come up with a quantum of plants that are readily available to the farmers and of course and the other percentage is going to be for the backyard farming hobbies and other landskeepers? Well it's an effort it's an initiative that has to be worked through with the extension advisory division. They're the ones that will inform us as to how much lands are out there available for example 200 plus acres of lands and we have to prepare our work program in tandem with them in order to produce the amount of plants that are required to grow on the hundreds of acres of crops annually. But what I have realized and farmers are I mean let's be real farmers and also other persons who want to purchase plants they have a problem in terms of availability of plants and that is that seems to be a perennial problem. What are your challenges I suspect there's numerous challenges that prevents the propagation station for in producing those the number of plants required for to the farmers out there? Yes of course we have numerous challenges and I would just like to mention the main one which which targets the primary material which is the plant itself. We have problems getting material or the right quantities of material and at the right time for citrus, avocado, all the fruit tree crops. Also we have issues getting explants that is these are plants that we would use to grow the plants by our tissue culture and one of the reasons is because of the inborn diseases that we have affecting those plants and in the past it was better because as you know the banana production has created a good landscape for agriculture and a lot of these citrus plants for example were planted intercropped with bananas and these same plants were being fed by the residual fertilizers and then also the person disease control that was done but now that is no more and you find these trees are dying that it's a citrus tree. Yes so it's difficult for them to give you that quality and amount of birdwood that you need that's just for the citrus. But in the past I know for a fact some years ago because like I said I must tell the public that I was I was a cadet you know a trainee up there I was I was trained up there for a year and a half to two years and I remember there we had some citrus orchard at Union. In fact the history will show that where the Lucille leg power station is that you know is now dormant that used to be the citrus orchard and to the right of it there was the mango orchard. In fact to those persons interestingly in that area is they used to call the place Kayawepon. In other words when you shout you'll hear a recording of it coming back to an echo by and back so it's called Kayawepon. But there was another orchard on the hillside of Union which was where I think right now the thing is every housing they're taking over so those lands have went into housing on the hillside then of course Lucille leg took that whole trunk at the bottom and the other side that in their garages and everything so Union they have been taking a lot of agricultural lands for other uses. Even presently. Even presently. Even presently because I'm working on some negotiation with Cronland. A whole lot points because we it's very interesting we live for our first break you're watching agriculture on the move we'll take our first break stay tuned we'll be back soon. 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 and plants I am welcome back to the program agriculture on the move I'm speaking with Mr. Manos Cherry who is the manager of the plant propagation station at Union and we are Manos it's interesting because I don't know from me when I was a cadet you'll find that Union agricultural station was a huge station if a lot of loads of lands and slowly and quickly lands are being taken for other use okay like I told about about Lucy like then I remember we had banana plots where we're doing experiments on you on your way to ground with you on to your left didn't let Lucy school was built there then on on the hillside we had an orchard across they were of citrus of various varieties that's what we're getting our cyan birdwood from all right then there was housing scheme took to get over okay and and the list goes on and on and then wasco took took over our our coffee or child also right by the by the bridge and and you know it's amazing so agriculture as far as I'm concerned as far as some somebody policy because at the time you know the the priorities were not agriculture so I'm sure you're facing the same thing now even presently because as you said we have we had hectares of lands there and one of the one of the areas in the construction sector I think is a housing development that's sticking up a lot even presently I am we doing some collaboration with crown lands and of course it's been done in a very good way in that you're asking us how much lands do we want to continue to occupy near our jump plasma and we've written of course telling them that look give us you know the extra block and parcel so we can establish you know our jump plasma first of all so we're presently facing these these these problems where more and more the construction sectors encroaching and on our land and I forgot to mention very importantly you know where we had this long building which is the the agricultural cadet quarters and lecture room and store room that was broken down to give way to to infrastructure then you had funding scheme on the other side you know that was taken over we had we had our livestock section there our pigory there that was taken over so I mean slowly and surely and very quickly to they're taking over our land so the question I'm asking is okay now where do you all get your soil material from well honestly mr. Sidney you know it could be a very I mean that's a very how should I put it a very good question because we all know that there isn't just one or two places where we can go and get hundreds or thousands of citrus plants we can access hundreds and thousands of citrus plants so that we can harvest that material from so what we do we get it from the farmers and we get it we get some from our germ plasms which are struggling because of lack of resources and you know that is what you've been doing for many years so what we would do we would go around we would of course make arrangements with the farmers they would agree to give us a sentiment of birdwood some would you feel courageous to ask us for payments however we do some battering some would say look I'm going to offer you to take as much birdwood you would prefer and then you just provide me some plants in return as a form of battering so that is what we're doing and we definitely cannot depend on that we cannot depend on the generosity of our farmers we have to be able to have our own germ plasm well-maintained germ plasm in place Manus it is a sad situation really really really sad when now you government have not become a beggar you know going to to farmers and again going to the farmers to that faces some challenges because of person diseases you know of those three orchards out there because the farmers themselves don't have the resources to maintain the plants and they offer in you so it's something that you have to look at closely okay is there some way because I'm sure there are extra lines at Union that idle and is there a possibility of establishing new germ plasm banks at Union definitely there are at least two areas that's underdeveloped one is an area that is close to our one of our germ plasms which takes you behind this wood and the wood brewery building close to the Union terrace house in development and the other is on the other side where the Wasco establishment is these two areas can be used and we can source funding for example through eco caddy and these are the agricultural institutions to for example establish a screen house where you would have your plants growing in there they will be free from person diseases that is clean plants whether it be citrus avocado mango and then you'd be able to go there take your birdhood if no problems and eventually produce and distribute hundreds of thousands of clean plants out there so there is potential however the resources are required in order to but but but is this something that you have put forward to the ministry to ensure that least given the time frame for the establishment of the germ plasm banks well yes yes I'm presently in contact with eco and there is such a development division because there is some feedback that came back from some workshop from the citrus association of Jamaica and we're looking at ways of trying to revamp you know the citrus industry at least that part and first of all we are hoping to bring in clean material that is clean that is plants that have disease and virus free into St. Lucia and then eventually we can do cleaning of our own stock material to eventually depend less on the extrarisional mobilization but tell me the cost of the of producing see one mango plant or a citrus plant okay I know that government has been subsidizing the sale of plants to the farmers it's as follow as a plant all right but tell us what is the real cost of producing one plant the cost of producing one plant presently mr. Philip is minimum $25 per plant and you could see that is heavily subsidized because farmers would show up with the distribution forms from the from the extension officers and request and by the plants however you know the ministry can save a lot by reviewing that policy and increasing the price of plants by let's say two dollars or more because the truth is that these plans have been at a subsidized price of four long and then when you look at the cost of the materials that is increasing the cost of producing is increasing so definitely the price of the fruit plants in particular has to be increased the other but hold up points and we do for another break right you're watching agriculture the move don't go away we'll be back soon after hurricane sustaining life and health is most important we should take heed do not 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 drink in water for about ten 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 agriculture on the move manners this is a very interesting and crucial point we're discussing in as the question of the cost of production of those plants and government is subsidizing the farmer plus the ornamental buyer because the guy who wants to after he have purchased you know a half a acre of land and he wants to build his house he wants to plant some plants in his backyard he's getting that water at what cost ten dollars okay and the cost of production is about twenty five dollars so he too is being heavily subsidized so so what yes we in the as far as I'm concerned that service is a service that is provided to the public right and I believe the more plants you have out there is better for country all right in terms of our food security however I don't believe that the the union should be making a profit I believe at least break even is fine but are you all breaking even are you all in in in the red I mean I will tell us where you are now I don't think we are close to breaking even Mr. Mr. Mr. Sydney because the landscapers first of all the farmers and landscapers and homeowners are the major buyers these are the ones we produce for and they are getting the the plants at a very heavily subsidized price that is all three categories of buyers farmers and landscapers home owners and I believe it has to be a policy change that needs to take place in order for us to get close to breaking even so we can generate revenue and at least operate you know on the operate and not operate on the such a great loss because I think twenty to thirty thousands of dollars can be generated that is in addition if there is just policy change to increase the price of plants let's say the fruit plants instead of four dollars to six dollars okay okay what are you doing now to really correct that problem that you have now which is the plants that are available to the farmers it is I don't know it seems there is that there is some disconnect as far as communication is concerned between the extension officer and union plant propagation station because I've been hearing from farmers the officers will give them a requisition say for 30 plants and when they when they yes and when they get there they can only be given six plants I mean so you can understand a farmer coming all the way from from grass in v4 and coming all the way to union you know and the officer who is his points of contact will tell him look he can get 30 plants from union how can how is this happening I must say presently this is happening mr. Sidney because of COVID-19 COVID-19 is also a disaster yeah I know what you are you everybody using COVID-19 but does happen before COVID-19 yes but I can address that the part that happened previously I mean people who never grew plants before were coming to buy plants and these were plants we had they reserved for the farmers you know to get it in the rainy season especially so we've had a problem we have a problem because I think the extension division is trying to move ahead but however we need to correct some things in house first for example sometimes the farmers would be issued 10 plants both variety and this is definitely and is definitely a demand that we we cannot meet because of what we have on the ground because of the challenges we have on the ground and there are basically I like to mention three reasons why they did not able to get the plants and add up in the quantity and the time that they would like one of it is at the times that they would come for the distribution of these plants that is during the dry season for the fruit plants especially citrus we don't take a chance and provide the farmers with these plants because they depend on the rain-fed system and you know the maintenance of these plants the good agriculture practices that you have to apply is key that's one of the reasons the other reason is because of the the method of negotiating with our suppliers so we have suppliers of seeds suppliers of birdwood who sometimes don't want to wait on a monetary payment so they would ask us to provide them with plants for the amount of seeds they provided provided plants provide us with plants for the amount of birdhood I've given you so that's another reason and yes so maybe later on you know I mentioned so how soon you think that that problem will be will be resolved manners because apparently that looks to be a perennial problem I cannot see that that being resolved with what you're telling me there I think the farmers need to be re-educated as to how they manage the crops and more resources needs to be pumped into the propagation division of agricultural stations in order to give us that leeway in order to give us that boost to be able to supply the demand people coming to buy plants from you especially new persons who like I said the home buyers do you tell them exactly when they buy the plant how to plant the plants and stuff like this we do and it's interesting because it's something I wanted to make mention of we do extension advisory work we do some engineering work we do some research and development work for example when the the home owners for example come those who live in the peri urban communities especially we give them an advice technical advice as to how to treat whether it be the fruit plants or the orchids and the other ornamentals we sometimes visit florist as to telling them the optimum conditions for establishing a sheathouse that's the research and development that's the extension part and there's an election and party you'll need to tell them the distance to plant the plants especially the home owners and especially because they plant they see the plant small and they would they would plant it about two feet apart you understand and in about two years three years is a jungle have at the back okay and the other thing to which is most important then you should also tell them do not plant it close to the house and also do the septic tanks because the root can buttress and you can break the septic tanks and so all of these things I think we need to because I did this instructional video you know and I got a lot of feedback from that trust me yeah and people a lot of you did not know they did not they should not plant the plant in the bag and the people who are doing it as we speak trust me okay so these are the things I think you all need to let the buyers know so in just before we end I need you to tell me sell Union Station sell your plans to the farm to the farming the public out there well we like the general public to know let's take a listen to that we have the best planting material to offer whether it be for fruit plants whether it be for ornamentals we also have the technical capacity we also have the technocrats right there on site to provide them with all the information they would require the Taiwanese are supposed to be in collaboration if you all what is a Taiwanese assistant is in a very good job at the union orchard in particular in that they are helping to maintain the fruit trees by pruning so for example we have the guava orchard in the same area that the farming and doing the demonstration it's a basically a demonstration area and they helping us to prune these plants in time so that we able to go and earlier them to eventually produce and supply the general public with guavas for example so they're doing a good job in this regard and of course the tissue culture yes of course as you know this laboratory was handed over by the Taiwanese government and they've handed down a lot of technology in this regard so we are able to now go to the farmers whether it be a plantain or banana get that material from them come back into the lab and produce hundreds of thousands of plants from just one ex-plant well honest we have come to the end of the program you know it's how short it was yeah well I want to thank you for being here on the program and I think it's a lot we need to tell the public out there because apparently they're not aware of the challenges that you face up there and I'm hoping that I'm moving forward you will be able to you know go over those hurdles and have enough plants when farmers come up there and home buyers and the landskeepers to get plants you know and you're saying to raise the plants right a little more so you can make the general more revenue thanks again for being here and I wish you success you've been watching our re-culture and the move we of course heard about the discussion we had on the plant propagation station at Union and producing plants to the farming community in general including homeowners farmers and landskeepers people we need to plant plants remember agriculture is our business and you need to eat fresh St. Lucia's best as we move into World Food Day remember those out there who are poor and they are hungry provide plant the tree on that day so that we can remember World Food Day I'm Philip Sidney goodbye I recall a moment agriculture on the moon I recall a moment