 It is my honour to address you on the celebration of World Food Day 2022. October 16th every year marks the commemoration of the establishment of the Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945. Annually, there are films associated with each year's celebration. The film for 2022 is Leave No One Behind and is especially fitting in the context of an ever-increasing disparity between the food poor and food-rich countries, which has become more pronounced with the ongoing global food crisis spurred on by COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine War. It brings home the need for us as a government to ensure that our systems of support and social safety net captures everyone and more importantly provides the volumes of safe, affordable and nutritious food required to live healthy and productive lifestyles. The Ministry of Agriculture has been integral to sparing in the first words the enhancement of food security. At the regional level, we have joined the CARICUM 25x25 initiative where we as a collective have pledged to undertake actions which will reduce our respective food import bills by 25% by 2025. CARICUM has provided a template for listing those actions and they monitor progress towards the stipulated target. At the sub-regional level, we have recently approved at the 6 OECS Council of Ministers meeting the recommendations with respect to the implementation of the food and agriculture systems transformation fast strategy which focus on a strategic approach to achieving food security. Nationally, we continue to implement our various food and nutrition security activities. We have continued to support banana and planting farmers by providing subsidized fertilizer, pest and disease support, financial aid to the NFTO, assignment of a restructuring consultant and appointment of a banana task force to review the industry. Focus on vegetables and other crops has been done for projects such as the 7 crops project phase 2 where we provided subsidized fertilizer, irrigation equipment, hoop greenhouses, seeds and seedlings. Later in the year, we will be purchasing small tillers to help with the mechanized preparation of farmland. We will also be piloting the automated knapsacks prayers. In fisheries, we continue our capacity building training inclusive of safety at sea, coral restoration programs and we will be piloting and rolling out the vessel monitoring system. The government will also be supporting livelihood protection for fishers on the coast insurance. Lots of emphasis has been placed on promoting local foods and products inclusive of standards for safety and export. The ministry has held expositions on bananas and mangoes and now for world food day for CMOS. These events are aimed at promoting the economic benefits of these crops while allowing for innovation in the processing and transformation of these products to increase the opportunities for rural development and entrepreneurship. Let me assure our stakeholders of our commitment to ensuring that the agricultural sector thrives and we will continue to provide the necessary framework for this to occur. Further, let me wish all a blessed and wonderful world food day 2022 as our government joins the rest of the world in commemorating October as the month designated for healthy food systems. My government will ensure that we leave no one behind by putting our people first. I encourage you to continue to eat what we grow and grow what we eat as our nation work towards food security for all. I thank you.