 Hundreds of St. Lucien's began receiving food packages of a different kind this week, with the launch of the Good Food Boxes Initiative. The boxes are filled with local produce from St. Lucien farmers as part of Government's Social Stabilization Plan in response to COVID-19. Lisa Joseph reports. The Good Food Boxes Initiative was launched on Wednesday, June 10, 2020. In its first week, 770 boxes of locally grown food will be distributed as part of the Government's National Meals Program. The initiative will also serve as a new supply outlet for farmers who have been displaced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chastney visited the market in Baudenosa, where the food boxes are prepared on Wednesdays and Fridays weekly. So we're looking to do about a thousand households to begin with, and you know, on average there's four or five people in a household, and then we're trying to grow that number. So for the next couple of weeks, we'll do the thousand and continue to grow from that point. But I think this is a very effective way to be able to help people at this very difficult time, and that we're able to now help the farmers who've lost a significant market because of persons' incomes being less, but also because the hotels are closed. And then for the government, certainly being able to get great value for the money that we're putting into this, it's able to help substantially more people than the way that we were doing it initially. I think the initial way was important, but as time has gone by and the team has continued to review this situation, we think that this is going to be the most effective way for the next couple of months. The marketing board is serving as the central depot for the Good Food Boxes Initiative. Theresa Daisy is the assistant general manager. Purchasing from our group, farmer groups, are namely Asher, Saltybus, Barnes-Grace, and we have individual farmers who are coming in to drop whatever produce that they have on the ground right now. As you're aware that we were faced with a series of the dry weather and as a result, we are getting a limited amount of produce, but in as much as we are looking to ensure that the packages look attractive enough, we work with whatever we have. In the packages we have produce like Namely, plantain, ripe banana, pumpkin, cantaloupe honey, dill tomatoes, and we have added some more stuff from the important side which are garlic, onions, and potatoes. Earl Hippolyte, a farmer from Deglo, has lauded the government for the National Meals Program as it has provided a much-needed market for farmers during this challenging time. I'm supplying a thousand pounds of plantains to the program. However, I sell to NFTO, the bulk of my bananas I sell to NFTO. The plantains I sell locally and now I have a market at Massey as well and now with a marketing board. Actually, it's the first time I'm selling plantains to a marketing board. I heard there is a feeding program. Farmers who are interested in supplying produce are asked to contact the Sinusha Marketing Board for the Government Information Service. Listen to Joseph reporting.