 In a proactive move to understand the issues faced by farmers and keep them informed about the latest developments in the agriculture sector, the Agriculture Minister Hon. Alfred Prosper held a meeting with farmers in Grace Viewfort. The meeting aimed to foster an open dialogue, allowing farmers to express their concerns and challenges while providing them with important updates. Agriculture Minister Hon. Alfred Prosper highlighted key topics discussed during the meeting, including access to markets, farm labour and the availability of affordable agricultural inputs. They also raised concerns about diversification and the need for our farmers to be more engaged in diversifying rather than focusing on bananas or single crop. And that was very much welcome because this is the direction that the ministry is going. We have a COCO project that we are pushing because we know there is a high demand for COCO. There is also a very good emerging CMOS sub-sector and we are really hoping that we can get our farmers to buy into it and engage in that kind of activity. There is also tremendous opportunity available for us for honey and the government has seen the need for that and has actually made financial resources available to the ministry to be able to push that sort of area in agriculture. It was a very, very productive meeting. I mean, we know the challenges of climate change and it is important that our government understand that and the ministry is very well aware of that. The minister provided a comprehensive update on the current status of the agriculture sector, highlighting the concern in presence of the Tropical Race 4, TR4 disease that affects banana plants. He emphasized the urgent need for farmers to take all necessary measures to prevent the entry and spread of the TR4 disease, urging farmers to adhere to strict biosecurity protocols and practice vigilant monitoring to safeguard the banana industry from the detrimental effects of TR4. The minister stressed the importance of collective responsibility in maintaining a resilient and disease-free agriculture sector. A soil-borne disease that is affecting bananas like musa, the musa species like bananas, plantain and macambu and we are very concerned about this disease because this disease has gotten as far as Venezuela, which is not too far from St. Lucia and if this disease gets into St. Lucia, it has the potential of destroying the agricultural, the entire banana, plantain and macambu sector because it is really, really destructive. It affects the root system of those trees and can really cause serious devastation to this sector. We are, as a ministry, putting measures in place. We have begun a program many years ago, but I think now it's important for us to intensify what we are doing, increase our biosecurity at the ports to as much as possible prevent this disease from getting into St. Lucia. The engagement between the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers in Greece, Viewfort, reflects the government's dedication to ensuring the welfare and success of the agricultural community. By actively involving farmers in policy discussions and keeping them informed about sector developments, the government aims to foster an environment of collaboration and support for sustainable agricultural practices. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.