 In a strategic move to reinforce the Blue Economy, the unleashing the Blue Economy of the Caribbean Eubeck Project has pivoted its funding towards addressing food insecurity in St. Lucia with a recent fertilizer agreement. The dispersal of a total of 34,000 bags of fertilizer across the island's eight agricultural regions has begun, with farmers set to receive four bags of 25kg of fertilizer per acre. First of all, agriculture, fisheries, food security and rural development, Honourable Alfred Prosper, underscores the Agriculture Ministry's pledge to alleviate financial burdens on farmers while enhancing their livelihoods and ensuring food security for all citizens. This is for me a very good level of support to our farmers under the programme and I'm hoping that that will help us boost our food security, increase our food production, but more importantly, to give the farmers the hope, the courage that agriculture is important and to encourage them to understand the importance of them being and contributing to the agricultural sector. Minister Prosper announced that in the forthcoming weeks, other ambitious plans will unfold, including the distribution of 500 water tanks, the initiation of a pilot farm labour program and extensive desilting efforts targeting major drainage areas. But more importantly for me as the Minister of Agriculture is that every single farmer will be able to receive at least one bag of fertilizer under this programme. This programme, as I mentioned a few days ago to the media, is a 10 million US dollar programme for food and nutrition and security and I'm hoping that we will utilise every single cent under this programme given the short space of time of one year that we have to implement. Minister Prosper expresses hope that along with other measures being put in place to tackle challenges being faced by farmers, the initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries Food Security and Rural Development will serve as a beacon of support for the farming community, fostering resilience and prosperity within the agriculture sector. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoni reporting.