 Good day, St. Lucia, and welcome to the program, Agriculture on the Move. I am Philip Sidney, your host. Today we have a special guest, and of course he is no stranger to St. Lucia, no stranger to the camera, and he is none other than the honourable Jeremiah Norbert, who is the parliamentary representative for Miku North and is also our deputy speaker of the House of Assembly. Welcome to the program. Thank you, Sidney. Thank you for having me. Great. By today is a special day for you, a bit of nostalgia. You just as close to me today is the anniversary of your accident. Briefly, how do you feel? Relieved, you know, to see how far you can come in a year. I'm just thankful for the fact that my life was preserved and that I'm able to sit here with you this afternoon. So I'm just grateful for the way that things happen and the sequence of events following the accident. I'm just very thankful. Thank God for that, boy. Jeremiah, let's go back to your constituency. It has been hailed years ago as an agricultural area, especially when you go to Maho and they had the banana industry, the green gold. There were lots of tree crops. I know lots of grapefruits and oranges and the dashing and the yams. I remember Sir John in Maho, who was another master farmer growing his citrus and also his bananas. Where is agriculture in your area today, as far as you're concerned, and where would you like to see it go? So as you're rightfully said, you know, Mikudnov is an agricultural belt. Most children or most people who went to university went to university from proceeds from agriculture from the banana industry. So you know the importance of agriculture in Mikudnov. However, there was a transition from agriculture to tourism. Mikudnov did not really make that transition and we've seen a significant scale down as it relates to agriculture. You say Maho and I smile because yesterday I took a drive up to Maho and I drove to as far as where the bridge collapsed. And it's sad, it's sad to do that. We have a situation where when you look at the amount of green lands, the amount of land that is, and we have an area that is pregnant with opportunity in Maho. So as I know, fertile have been left for and there's very, very little happening there right now. And part of that has to be attributed to the fact that the access roads to that area is very deplorable. Accessibility is not something that you can see you have right now. So a lot of farmers have had no choice but to abandon their fields. And those who continue going to their fields, they go there not even knowing how they're going to return home. So yesterday I came down and in the back of my van I had about 9 or 10 farmers sitting there. Yes, coming down with what they would have collected for the day coming down with their produce. They had absolutely, I stopped for a few minutes and I engaged them and they had absolutely, just hopeful that somebody is going to go to Maho and come back down and give them a ride. Whereas before you would get hundreds of farmers occupying the Maho lands, hundreds of farmers. And right now if you have 10, 15 farmers there, those of them who are farming very, very, very close to their heart, all they really have absolutely no other choice. And this is very sad. COVID has exposed the fragility of the tourism industry. And right now I think it is an opportune time for us to utilize what we have at our disposal. We could not reintroduce our culture where it becomes attractive to our young people as well. So that, I mean, it can catch their interest. I have a gentleman in Miquud, I think he is the pioneer. I also have a young man who is Jamie Montu too, who is the president of the vendors association. Young farmers are people like we in Jamar young farmers who believe that if they get the necessary technical support that they can make our culture sexy again. Like Muki? Yeah, well Muki, Muki, Muki is a special thing. Muki is a special thing. So I mean that is where we are now in terms of, we've seen a significant scale down in terms of the amount of farmers who used to, I mean from where we were to now is just a drop in the bucket. But I believe that right now it is a perfect time for us to reintroduce. At a time like now when we speak about reducing our food import bill, why not start in Miquud and have some significant investment in Miquud and reintroduce our culture in a way. And I'm happy that the Taiwanese have provided, in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture have made certain commitments in terms of the second aspect of the Seven Crop project. And I'm very happy and I'm hoping to see a lot of that and a lot of the fruits being in Miquud North because we have, right now, we have food tiles so it's ready to be planted. So with a little intervention from central government as it relates to providing accessibility, there is a lot that we can do. And me as the parliamentary reform Miquud North, I look forward, I can tell you I have a very good relationship with the current Minister of Agriculture. Also with the Taiwanese ambassador, Ambassador Peter Chen. And I know that in conversation in dialogue, I know that we are going to see part of this project being implemented in Miquud. Right now we also have the, going up the Mahou Road, I know you know that we have the, when Bossi Eju, the relocation of the... Yeah, well, I was coming to that, the fallout agricultural station. So I think right now, given this type of development in the community, it is opportune. It is opportune. Yeah, it is a perfect time. And about Bossi Eju, I mean, as a youngster growing up, it was my, I always look forward maybe on when you have school holidays to go down to Bossi Eju. But it is what it is. Yeah, I'm happy that Miquud was seen as fitting. Yes. And I'm hoping that it does not stop there. Yes, yes. And not just, we don't just take into consideration the livestock aspect of it, but now that we have the livestock, we can have a joint effort to ensure that the livestock alongside the plants and stuff. Correct. And it's right down in Mahou Road. Mahou is just one of the places. We have Waio, we have Pil, we have Mini, where we have several farmers who have had no choice but to abandon their farms because they don't have access to their farms. So it is my hope. It is my hope. It is my dream that we can start reaping the rewards of what we have at our disposal. We have, right now what we have, we have the natural resource in that of the lands. And we have the lands. We have the lands at a time when it is very fertile. It is ready to be planted. It is ready to be harvested. And we just have to, and I know that part of the Senusheleba Party government, part of their mandate is to ensure that we reduce the import bill. And part of that would mean that we would have to produce, increase our productivity in Senusheleba. Miquudnoff is ready to produce. Yes, right. So I'm just waiting and I continue the dialogues and I look forward to the days coming, the days ahead to see how we can collaborate. I can work with the farmers. Because as I said, I don't believe in working for people, but working with them, giving them an opportunity to voice their concerns because I don't believe in the imposition type of leadership. I believe in consultation. Allow the farmers to discuss what they think is best. And we now, along with the technocrats, we can provide the necessary technical support for them so that we can see a greater yield coming from Miquudnoff as it relates to farming and agriculture. Because in fact, there is also right next to the devolet agricultural station, you have DG Farms. Yes, right there. And these are opportunities for people in the area as anything else. Now going back a bit to the banana industry, as I moved to discussing the agro-processing, I have to remember when the Prime Minister made his statement concerning bananas. And at the end of the day, there was a frenzy, social media, I call it going bananas, hashtag going bananas. The point is, he was right. Because as far as agro-processing right now is the next way to go, and I know in Miquudnoff, part of the women's group, the rural network of rural women, are from Miquudnoff, and that's why you have the Miquudnoff dark chocolate. Yes. What are you saying about this? Okay, so we've seen the value and the importance of value added as it relates to raw materials or produce like cocoa and green bananas and fig. As you rightfully said, part of the rural women have had the privilege of drinking on a morning cocoa that I don't even have to go and grit. Exactly. It's already in a refined manner that I just take and I take a spoon, I pour it and I get the same flavor from that I get from the cocoa stick. Exactly. That in itself, I think one of the issues we have with that is the underutilization of these facilities like the processing plant. Well, it's just on my boundary in Miquudnoff, but most of the women are from Miquudnoff. Yes. Not taking anything away from Miquudnoff. But what you have, I think one of the things that is lacking is information and sensitization. Yes. A lot of people are not aware of these type of things. Yes. And sadly, it was brought to my attention only after I became a parliamentary rep. Okay. So prior to that, I would not have known that. So I think maybe a little more has to be done in terms of sensitizing the public and having like an education drive to encourage people to enjoy local consumption. But for you to enjoy local consumption, you need to know that it is available. And it is available, but a lot of people do not know. Yes. Some of them, sometimes you see some other things at the supermarket. All right, then you don't know what to come up with. Yeah, you have no idea. I was surprised when I went to Marseille and I saw chocolate right in Miquudnoff. I bought it because I saw the nib. Yeah. And then when I was reading the label, I realized that this is... Right in the humdom. Yeah, at the time, I was not into politics yet, but I saw the chocolate and I was like, that is actually being produced in Miquudnoff to my fascination it was. Yes. I think it's a little more sensitization because as much as we want to reduce the import bill, I think that we need to go on to an education drive to ensure that people are aware of what we produce locally so that they gravitate towards locally produced goods instead of a situation where... Yeah, we're encouraging people to buy local, but do we have anything that can give out information where people know what is being produced locally? It's very difficult. If you go to the supermarket and you see LP, it's locally produced, but prior to that, it's very difficult to distinguish between local and produce and what we have as imported. But I'm happy that that is... And I think that is something that we have the opportunity to build on this, expand on the rural women, the group of rural women. I agree. We have an opportunity now to... Bring in some young people. Yeah, to build on it, show people the real benefits of that industry as we are referring to the agro-processing and not show people the benefits so that we can get more young people gravitating towards that and realize that they can actually make a life from working at an agro-processing. And there's a lot. I think we have a lot of wastage as it relates to a produce you see, you pass on mangoes, boiling air, a lot of wastage happening. And we can change that. I agree. Right now in a time when you have so many young people struggling to find a job, why not utilize the resources that we have at our disposal? The mango trees are there. They're producing all... As seasonal as it is, they're producing... But we have an opportunity to create employment out of these things. Yeah. Because government cannot employ everybody. I keep saying that. I mean, they create an enabling environment. But for example, I remember I am going to maybe in your community, Ika helped some women there with the... What do you call it? The Balisi? The Latini broom. Yeah, the broom. Where is that now? So as we speak, we still have several people who are involved in... And right now there is a company called Superior Broom. And that was able to germinate from assistance from Ika. Right. And we've seen... Right now we have these people producing brooms. You go to this market and you see their brooms. It's labeled. Yeah. And we have families who are heavily dependent on that. And that is a growing industry. We have people... Latini used to be... Or straws. Yeah. And straws used to be something that grew in the wild. Right now we have farmers who are actually cultivating planting from germination. Right, right. And they take care of it just like you take care of an ordinary farm. So right now it has become such an industry that they've exhausted the wild Latini, if you want to call it that. Right, right, right. And you have farmers who actually have Latini farms. My godfather and aunt of mine who have acres of Latini that they planted. Wow, wow. And because of the demand. I mean there are some things that the demand will not really change. Like brooms, you would always have to sweep the house. You must sweep. Yeah. And I think both of us can attest to the fact that a straw broom, there's a much better job than this plastic broom. Exactly, exactly. So we would always have the demand for that. So I'm happy that this is an industry which is also growing. I'm happy again that this is an initiative that happened in Mikudinov. Yes, right. And that's what I tell you right now. We have an opportunity to take into consideration all of these things. Build on them and have Mikudinov can become self-sustained. Beautiful. Yeah, I am convinced that Mikudinov can become self-sustained. We have what we need. We have the people, the government provides the technical support. We have people who are willing to go out there and do what is necessary. I guess it's just a matter of sensitizing the people on the importance of these things because many people don't even know about some of the things they see happening in the community. So it's just a matter of ensuring that the dialogue happens, the public town hall meetings happen. So people are aware of the opportunities that can be derived from interventions like this and that they now figure, OK, well, let me make the most out of this opportunity. Great. We are due for our first break. Yes. You are watching Agricultural Move. Stay tuned. Back soon. Banana farmers, remember me? I destroyed the Grumichel banana variety some years ago. Now my cousin, Tropical Race 4 or TR4, a fusarium-willed banana disease is on the horizon in a more aggressive form and can wipe out the banana industry in a flash. Be vigilant. Don't bring any banana plants or plant tissue into the island. Report any unusual symptoms on your banana plots to the Department of Agriculture at telephone 468-5600 or the extension officer in your area. Remember, protect our vital banana industry. Welcome back to the program, Agriculture on the Move with me. Of course, as you heard, it's me, Jeremiah Norbert, who is the parliamentary rep for Bikou North. Jeremiah, a lot is happening and a lot will be happening under your watch. I know. One of the things I know that some years ago, we were looking at was to assist the fishers in Miku. But before we get to that assistance, tell us about the fishing activities in your community. Okay. Just like similar to farming, you know, we have quite a few families who are dependent, heavily dependent on proceeds from fishing. We have the Praline Bay. We also have Miku Village, where we have quite a bit of fishing happening. And in between these two bays, we have, in a smaller scale, we still have fishers going out between these two bays. So fishing is a big contributing factor to the economic development of Miku North. We have a lot of families, as I said, who are heavily dependent on fishing. Now, during the election, you would have seen the renting going on from the fishermen as it relates to, especially in the village of Miku, as it relates to segarzum and the issues created by segarzums. And the difficulties that they had to access their boats for them to go fishing. I'm happy to tell you today, and I know I had a press release about it, where right now, if you were to go down to the village, you'd realize that the jetty is under construction and there's work ongoing as we speak. And every time I mention the jetty, I have to always give credit to the former parliamentarian for her contributions in terms of bringing the project away to us before I took over from there. Opportunity, again, because of this jetty. Right now, the fishermen are excited. There is a buzz about fishing in the constituency because fishermen are now seeing that they will not have to face the problems of having to walk in the segarzums. And there are a lot of negative impacts of the influx of segarzum coming into the bay. Firstly, it's not, it's an unsightly thing, it's an iso, and you have people who are very reluctant to buy fish from the fishers in Meekwood because of the fact that they have to pass through the segarzum to bring it on shore. You know the stench that the sulfur oxide causes, and it's not one that is very pleasant, so more or less they're deterrent to fish buyers. What I can tell you as well is, having understood that I engage the Taiwanese government, sorry, the Taiwanese ambassador and his team and people from the Taiwan technical mission, a sample of segarzum was taken from the freshwater in Meekwood, and it was sent to Taiwan because you need to find the opportunities where they are. Segarzum is used for several things along the city, when it's processed and used in a lot of makeup and a lot of other things. A sample of segarzum has been sent to Taiwan, and I'm hopeful that it comes back and it meets the grade of the one that has been used in Finland for the production of makeups. And if it is, then now, instead of having segarzum, which is now a problem, it is going to give us the opportunity. So I'm hopeful that when we get the results from Taiwan, that it is something that we can benefit from in terms of actually exporting segarzum and having it sent to Finland and the other places and having people being gainfully employed. So instead, so right now, what looks like a threat, now we can trade into an opportunity. It can be captured outside before getting rotting. Yes, and the whole intention is the one that is being used, it's not supposed to, because the extent you get from the segarzum, I think, is because of the, when it mixes with, the self-oxide mixes with other components close to it. Correct. Because if you realize when it's out there, it does not smell so bad. So the plan is that if it is actually the type of segarzum that is being used in Finland then it is going to give us a real opportunity and we could not find it. We may even have a problem when people say not enough segarzum coming in. True. So I'm hopeful that that is it. In Perali, we have, well you know that since 2016 that there was a facility built in Perali and to date this facility has not been commissioned. And I think it is very sad that you have a facility where millions of dollars were spent and that the fishermen don't have access to these facilities. What I can tell you is that I've engaged the fishermen, I've engaged various stakeholders who are affected or see the people who utilize the area. A management team I brought Mr. Thomas Nelson from the fisheries department. Also Mr. Von Charles attended a meeting and we've already started the process in terms of putting a management team together to provide a proposal to provide the government so that we can do the official handing over of the facility, get the electricity and the running water and allow fishermen to be able to now utilize the facility for its original use. So we're making quite a bit of headway. I'm hoping that to put a timeline to it I'm hoping that somewhere on June that we're able to officially open this facility and we can actually give the fishermen their facility and we can see some sort of economic activity happening and revenue being generated from the use of that activity because right now the fishermen have no electricity there they have to go and get ice or the places they have to go. So we want to change that facility or allow the facility to serve its original purpose, its original intention. So we're working on that expeditiously that is to ensure that our fishermen have what is theirs because we cannot have a facility just sitting there. Yeah, it's just a sitting down and no one is here. So we're working on that. But let's go back to the jetty. I know originally they wanted to build a stationary jetty like the one in Savins Bay and the one in Praline. They now moved to a floating jetty. People had, I know some of the fishers, there are some concerns with the floating jetty but what's your take on that? Okay, just like some of the fishers, in the absence of information, we were left to speculate. So not understanding, I myself, not understanding how the mechanism behind the floating jetty, I also had my own reservations as to how would that jetty be able to sustain the type of waters that we have there. However, after speaking to Mr Ian Khan, he's the contractor from CMS Services, who is the one. I have a better appreciation for what is happening now. Part of a benefit of that jetty is that, if you would realize, as I said in Praline, we have a stationary jetty. Some of the issues that we have in Praline is that sometimes boats can get stuck under the jetty when the tides drop. However, with the floating jetty, it does not shift parallel but it would go up and down with the tide. So if the tide drops, it automatically drops which prevents a boat from getting stuck under there. So there are benefits. I was also reliably informed that there was a feasibility study that was done before to ensure that this jetty would be able to withstand the currents and the type of waters that we have in the code. So now that I have a better understanding of how this jetty is going to operate, I have a better appreciation for what it is. I think also the fishermen now, they're seeing aspects of it because as I speak to you, I said they're working on the jetty and they also are getting that appreciation for the jetty that is being installed in Miku right now. How long is it going to be for completion? Well, from my last conversation, I'm taking into consideration on foreseen circumstances. I was informed somewhere around May-June we may get the jetty will be in a position to be handed over to the fishermen. In addition to that, I know there are a few lockers, but are you all going to be building more lockers and also have an area where they can clean the fish and to have it well presented for sale to the public? Okay, so as we speak, there is no allocation for such a building. However, it is something that we've started a discussion. It is a concern that the fishermen have that they would like to have running water and proper washroom facilities for themselves and somewhere where, similar to what obtains in Denri by the dive, where they're able to have running water of the turbs and ice where they can sell the fish. In terms of the aesthetics, somewhere that looks good and you feel like you can go there and you feel comfortable going there to buy some fish. So, I've already engaged physical planning. We've started a discussion. I cannot put a timeline to it, but it is my responsibility to ensure that I rally on behalf of the fishermen to ensure that they get what they deserve and I think that they're deserving of a lot more than what I'm asking. So, I will bring forward the case to Central Government to ensure to Ministry of Physical Planning to ensure also to the fisheries department. And I think that there is a mycode enough and the mycode fishes in the mycode village have a very strong case. I mean, they've been in the wilderness for a long time and right now I think they have a very strong case and they're very deserving so I will do the necessary engagement on my end. I will keep them informed. I will keep going up and down to them, speaking to them as to what am I getting, what feedback am I getting, what direction we're taking. And I'm going to ensure that when, and I'm not even saying if, when we are going to get this facility that they have a voice and they get a facility that is befitting for them and for the purpose that they're requesting it. The other thing that has come to the fore, even it was exposed during COVID was the, what I call it the Ghoul Rush for CMOS establishment. I realize in, yes, it was a, something that was there in the past, but right now apparently it has boomed, especially in the Prahle area. There's also a rush for space. What say you in that regard? Okay, so as it relates to the CMOS and just like we were speaking about the agro-processing and I said what would happen, the problem with the agro-processing was that I think there was a lack of information as to, as it relates to the agro-processing plans with the rural women. CMOS on the other hand, there was an increasing information worldwide as to the benefits of CMOS so that the demand for CMOS increased significantly. And then you would have seen there was no farmer that could produce enough CMOS for the suppliers. So the farmers produced, they produced and they were unable to even meet the request that they were receiving. So CMOS, what CMOS assisted me as a Parliamentary Rep, significantly because a lot of families had no choice but to resort to CMOS and it kept them going. It provided them with food on their table. It provided them with the extension for the Balkan. It provided them with a little car to drive. What we've seen, however, is that because there is no regularization and everybody is like a doggie doggie and everybody is trying to find their own market, it has become a little difficult. So right now you have people trying to out-buy orders or giving lower prices, making lower offers than orders and there is no regularization as it relates to CMOS. However, with exports in Lucia and their intervention, I know at the last briefing that there was talk and from the Ministry of Agriculture standpoint there was talk about intervening and causing there to be some sort of regularization and establishing the markets. I know there are markets in Dubai, there are markets in the USA, markets in the UK and the demand for CMOS is but right now what I would like to see happen is for them to have collaboration among the CMOS farmers so that everybody operates on the same wavelength and not a situation where this CMOS farmer tells you $10 for a pound of gold and somebody comes and tells you 40 but where you have it is regularized and we know that we set a standard price for it. But CMOS has assisted my constituency significantly. Very, very good. We are coming to the end. I also want you to know that the staff in the House of Parliament are watching. Sharon D'Amici must watch. Any final words for you sir as we end? I would just like to thank you Mr. Sydney for inviting me on the show this afternoon. As I mentioned earlier, as it relates to agriculture, fisheries the agro-processing aspect I think Mikoudonoff is a pregnancy opportunity. Right now it is opportune and the central government and the Ministry of Agriculture have the perfect avenue to go down in terms of, in Mikoudonoff we have the livestock farmers, we have the fishers we have farmers of produce people like Muki who have been there and on that note I have to say a very, very, very big thank you to the Taiwanese technical mission and to the ambassador of Taiwan for the support that they've been lending to us in Mikoudonoff. I call them bogus and both Tom and Muki who have benefitted significantly and for me as a Parliamentary Rep I would love to see an increase in the amount of farmers and it is my hope that I'm going to see better access roads, more young people getting involved in farming and more people understanding the importance of farming as it relates to our economy as a whole. Great, thank you so much for being here and I wish you luck and success and I hope you will bring forth a lot to the people of Mikoudonoff. Thank you very much for being here. You've been watching Agricultural in the Moon and thank you for being in the program. Remember, agriculture is our business. Eat fresh, it's the NUSHA's best and look forward for our banana Expo 2022. I'm Philip Sydney, goodbye. I call it a month.