 Hello again, St. Lucia and welcome to the program, Agriculture on the Move. I am Philip Sidney, your host. I have said many, many times before that governments cannot employ everybody. And that is why you have persons in the various communities, some of them coming together, some of them are on their own to have their own little businesses within their local. Marketing is a serious situation because they need to know exactly whatever the enterprise they get involved in, they need to market the enterprise to make some money. Because as I said, government can create only the enabling environment for them to ensure they may get training, they may facilitate funding from agencies so that they can operate. And that's why today we have a group that I was unaware of from all the way from Souffray and of course in Fonsi and Jacques called the Jacques Valley Products. With me are two members. One is called to my right, Alishka Foshe, who is the sales and marketing officer and next to her is Moana Octav, who is the assistant accountant for that group. Ladies, welcome to the program. Thank you. Great. Ms. Foshe, I want to start with you, tell us a little about you. All right, so like you already said, my name is Alishka Foshe. I am, well, I would like to think that I'm young enough and I live in Bwaden, Bwaden, Foshe, Jacques. I, well, I taught for some time and then I delved into a different area of work which was with a hardware company where I managed their branch and right now I'm just focused on Jacques at present. Beautiful. Can I have something from you, Ms. Octav? Okay, I am Moana Octav, also from Foshe, Jacques. I'm currently employed with the government and I do, it's not part time, but I, any spare time I have, I give it all to Jacques Valley, okay, when I'm not at work. Beautiful. Okay, and yes, I am the assistant accountant, but I fit in everything, everything I can assist in the company, I do. Also I do purchasing for the company. For the company. Yes. How did this, I mean, I never knew of you all, you know, until one day, two weeks ago I ended up in Souffre, in Foshe, Jacques, you know, and I just issued on you all. How did Jacques Valley products limited come about? Anyone of you? Okay. Jacques came about, was conceptualized from the Foshe, Jacques Development Committee. So they're a group of volunteers in the community, they've been there for ages, probably from the 1970s, I would say, and they came, they were trying to find ways to add value to the farmer's products, because you know the farmers have fruits and herbs and stuff that they cannot bring to the supermarket. Right. And some of them just fall by and they lose a lot of revenue from that. So they decided to, they also targeted women, because we have a lot of unemployed women in the community. So they decided to form an agro-processing group, and we named the group Jacques Valley products. Now Jacques has a double meaning, right, because like you know Foshe, Jacques is the home of the national bird, called Jacques, Amazon, a physical bird, and also it's Jacques community. Right. So it's a double meaning. So yes, Jacques actually came from having to add value to the farmers and creating alternative forms of livelihood, but Foshe Jacques Development Committee is like our murder group. Ah, so it's an offshoot. Right. Oh, right. So tell us Moana, how many of you all are in that group, and how long have you all been operating? Okay. We started with eight, only ladies, we're still ladies only, but we went down to seven. Okay. A member left because of her personal reasons. Okay. Yeah, so it's eight of us, we still eight, we're... And are you all hoping to increase the numbers, are you all hoping also to bring in men in the group too, or do you all secretly want to remain as a women's group? Well, we have not mentioned about bringing men in, but we have mentioned about bringing more young persons in to help with employment. Okay. Yes. So how long, you said you have been in operation? I have been in operation from 2016. 2016? Yeah. Okay, and you all began with the numbers, and where are you all getting your fruits from? Is it strictly from the Jacques area? Majority, yes. Okay. Majority of our fruits come from our local farmers. Okay. So tell us the fruits that you all use, and tell us the products that is derived from the fruits that you all get. Okay, so we don't only use fruits, because Jacques is kind of diverse. So right now, at present, we're doing fruit pops and dried herbs, as well as blended seasoning. Okay. So we use both herbs and fruits. Okay. At present, we use a lot of fruits, all those you can think of. We have 28 flavors of fruit pops. Hmm. Yes. 28 flavors. Wow. Those that I can mention, we use lime, papaya, sour, soap, coconut, avocado, carrots, pineapple, tamarind, banana, all fruits you can think of we use at present. So what you all do, I know you all mix, what do you call it? The cream stick? What do you all do? The pop. The fruit pops. Yes. Okay. So I was bombed by the, what do you call it? The tam bamb. Tam bambi. Tam and banana. Tam and banana. That's one of the famous. Man, let me tell you. I say, where were you all of this? You don't know. And that was, so who is assisting you all with the engineering aspect, the mixing aspect, you know, to put this, this, this, the whole thing together? Okay. Well, we started on our own. You understand? Everything you do is an experiment. So we started on our own. However, we have had agencies working with us. We have a German institution called GIZ, right. So we started with Eva, Eva had us as her baby. Eva worked with GIZ. And then we moved on from Eva and we had Ms. Mandy St. Rose working with us. So GIZ has been a pillar of strength for us. We also had hard sub training. Good. Yes, we've been, have sub certified. We had basic food and hygiene. We also worked with Seidu from the Ministry of Commerce. Our business plan actually was from the ministry. We worked with Ms. Howell. So she helped us conceptualize and put our business plan together. And Carrie Lede, because we, you were in the agro process in center. So you can, you know what it is. We're in there with Rainforest Woods. Carrie Lede helped us a lot with the renovation of the place and making it into an agro processing center. So we've got a lot, a lot of help from grant agencies as well as local persons, local, the government and yes, we're just pushing a lot. So what, what the thing is, what, you all are only knowing. So Fred, I mean, how we, I mean, I don't know about you all. So what, why, what are you all hiding? I mean, if you all have certain lovely products, I mean, in terms of your marketing, you know, procedures, how you, how you market yourselves, how you advertise yourselves? Okay. We have a Facebook page. We have an Instagram page. And right now, since we're not as big as we want to, we target the areas around us up to schools. But then with COVID, schools were shut. That was our main market schools. So then that was set back for us. But school, the community, after church, we sell it. And, you know, the people in the community really enjoy it. But then we're looking to get out as soon as possible. Get out where? Get out. We want to be on the global market. Global market, export our goods. But you're not, you're not, you're not even castries yet. You're not on the global market. Well, we have been in the Boulevard. Okay. There was some activity going there. And then we had a little area where we came out and we had a good turnout. We had good feedback on that. So we're getting the story, but surely. Was that about two years ago? Should have been. That was with the Jonas people from Sofret. That's correct. Right, right, right, right, right, right. We were there. We've also been to Chouazale. We had a large turnout in Chouazale. There was, I think it was a church retreat kind of, but all the carriots together. And we got really good feedback from them. However, what has held us back is that, you know, when you're going out there, you want to be of a certain standard. You want to keep up. You need to go through different things. So we've been branding and rebranding. Right now, we're working with Canary. And we have a mentor with us, by the name of Ms. Anfiyah Joshua. Right, right, right, right. So she'll be working with us for the year. Product development, we also did with GIZ. So now we're working with her to kind of get ourselves out there, get ourselves up to a certain standard. And we're also working with X percent. X percent, no shelf. Right, to get our products on the massive shelf. But you know you need to be of a certain standard. And product testing and all these things cost a lot. Yes, yes. A lot of money. So as you mentioned money, where you'll get your funding from, I mean to assist? Okay, members, we started off with us. Each member gave something for their savings to start off and then we got the equipment from GIZ. And members still purchase fruits and get little packages and the stuff that we need to get stuff done for us to move forward. So we get little incomes from that. So you'll purchase stuff from the farmers themselves in the area? Yes. We also have two members, two, three members from our group who are farmers. Oh, they're farmers? Yes. So they bring in products that are not selling when they go to the market or stuff. They bring it to us. So we'll start. How regular do you all do your processing activities? Is it done on a weekly basis or daily basis? How do you all operate? Or do you do it when you get an order? I know. On order? We do it on a weekly basis, you know. We meet on a Monday and on a Wednesday, right? So we do production and processing, but when we get really large orders, sometimes you have to work overtime. So yeah, you meet more than your regular schedule, but yeah. Where the equipment was given to you all by GIZ, you said, right? That's good. In terms of your packaging material, where do you all get that from? Okay, we want to go into biodegradable. We're not there yet. So we get our plastic from Rumco and we order our food grade sticks for the popsicles. You're ordering this. But is it difficult to get your packaging material? No, is it difficult? No, it's not. Is it expensive? Well, the food grade sticks. Yes, it's a low-cost thing, but the plastic is not. Okay, in terms of labeling, are your products labeled? Yes, they are. Okay, how were you able to develop the labeling? Was it costly to do that too? It was, however, that was done with funding from GIZ. They did our product development. The branding, our logos and everything was done by GIZ, was paid for by GIZ. Wow. And you're still saying, from GIZ, you're not coming to GIZ. Well, because of COVID, you understand? COVID has held a lot of things back. We could not meet as often. We could not be out there because, you know, with all the protocols and the restrictions and you have certain standards to uphold. So that has kept us back. But since we're slowly moving to normalcy, you will hear of Jacques. You have a lot of tourists coming to Souffre and they come to Fonse Jacques. Are you all catering for that market too? No, well, since we were branding and rebranding and testing doing product development, we had not delved into the tourism market. However, we are looking, we had talks with Mr. Buttscoy from Anshas-Nijid Mountain. And she's willing to come on board, you understand? Okay. So that's another market. But I know they come to Fonse Jacques. I know they go touring the rainforest areas. But do you have something in mind so that you can actually tap into that? Yes, we do. Actually, the development committee, let me say a little from Jacques, the development committee is now working on an agrote tourism park. So that will be a big market for Jacques as in everybody, everything will be tied into the community being sustainable on its own. You understand? Using the forest, every Airbnb, everything will be on board. So Jacques will have a big market with all the tourists that will be coming to Fonse Jacques. That is great. Yes. All right. With that thought, we went for our first break. You're watching agriculture on the most extreme. We will be back soon. Don't go away. What's in the food you're eating? Do you really even know? All the chemicals and hormones used to accelerate their growth. All the artificial flavoring, sweeteners and colors too. We consume and we don't spare a thought for the damage that they'll do. Damage that they do. Think about the children. Think about the children. How will we save them? Chemicals and GMOs are not the solution. Use organic and join. Excessive agrochemical use, additives, and genetically modified foods are harmful to health and the environment. Join the Good Food Revolution. Grow, buy, and consume organic. A message from Rye St. Lucia and the Ministry of Sustainable Development with funding from the GEF Small Grants Program, UNDP. The Good Food Revolution. Welcome back to the program, Agriculture on the Move. And of course, we're discussing agro-processing. And with me, we have two ladies from the Jaco Valley products, limited in the Fonsein Jac area. And of course, we have Aliska Foscher and Moana Octave. You all talk about many products you all have developed over 20, and you're still looking for more. You're still experimenting, which is a good, good thing. Tell us what you're looking for now. Well, we have the teabags. We're looking to launch it this month. So that is our main focus for this month, the teabag. We have chocolate. We work with chocolate also with the fruit pops. OK. So you'll get the cocoa from Fonsein Jac? From Fonsein Jac. Yes. Yes. And we have a crunch available so we can make our own chocolate. Yes. So we've been experimenting with the chocolate. We use it. Sometimes to cover some of the fruit pops, you understand? So we need to buy it now. Buy it. We need to buy that. We also experimented with barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and the wine. Oh, yes. Local wines. Local wines? Yes, with fruits. With the fruits? Yes. OK. Are they not out yet? Not as yet. That's products that we're working on now. Working on them. We're looking to launch in the near future, as well as gelato. You can make gelato with the fruits and chocolate. Yes, yes. Right, and essential oils, which is a big market. OK. So that's our future products. Wow. But the near future, as in this month, we launch in the near future. I notice you all, in fact, I bought some from you all the dry seasonings. I tried that and that works really, really nice. I'm glad you like it. Yeah. So, well, OK. I mean, what's up for this? I mean, that's a big market for that, I can tell you. The dried seasonings? Yeah, it is. Right now, we cannot even sustain the market. The small market we have, the dry seasonings. You see so. It's a large demand for it. OK, so what are you all working on that to hype it up and to get more done? Yes, yes. Looking to go big with it. Especially the hotels that we have, that's a market, as well, so we can. OK, so your location for your agro-processing plant is explained where it is. OK, our location is the Churchyard in Forsythia. So that's the central point of Forsythia. As long as you know where the Roman Catholic Church is and the Forsythia credit union, we're right there. Yes, right in the center. OK, OK. Your seasonings are they in the supermarkets in Souffray and in virals, no? Not as yet. No, just in the shops in the area we have it. They're in little shops because we're doing, like I explained, we're doing the product development and branding and rebranding and getting backwood so to get all these things done before we put them on the supermarket shelves. OK, so based on what I'm hearing, SEDU and what I call them, the Bureau Standards, you all have been in collaboration with them? Yes, we have. And they have given you all the guidance required? Yes, they have. OK. They work really closely. OK, in terms of ongoing training, would you all still think that you all need more training? Training is always, always, always at the forefront. You can never have enough training because you're always developing, you're always trying to improve. So training is always welcome. Great. Are you all hoping to get the schools involved? I mean, as I'm saying a big business there, I'm seeing, look now you talk about Airbnb, you talk about the trails and everything. So how are you going to get involved? I mean, what are you all doing to get involved in that, to get the action? All right, well, we're already being established. We're working to get our products up to a certain standard. So as long as you have that, you can be on any market. However, since post-agent development committee is our mother, Pussy, and they're the ones actually developing that agritourism pack, like they call it, the ATP, we speak to them, collaborate with them and we'll have our products everywhere in the community. Have you all thought of getting ads out there on the radio, television, to showcase your... Are you all prepared now? We are prepared now. We could... Right now our platform, like she said, is just Instagram and Facebook pages. However, we need to boost it. Like you said, you've not even heard of us. So this needs to be boosted further so that we'll be known globally. So we're trying to work towards that at present. Are you all registered? Yes, we are. Okay, so you all have every member of the committee, you know, board members, they are members. I mean, it is a well-organized group. Yes, it is. We have a partnership. The partnership. Okay, very good. You all buy loads and all this stuff. Everything, constitution, everything. Wow. Everything down for your register. Yes, that's the thing. Oh, forcibly, I have to say that. I guess the only thing we're missing is to get out. You'll need to launch... So, well, I am thinking, right, is to have a big launch, you know, when you all figure it's right. Okay, I'm thinking it's right, all right? Because, I mean, that's one exposure you're getting already. And that will go very, very far. So, I'm saying the next big thing for you all is to have a big launch, maybe in the Boulevard or somewhere, you know, and come out. Get all the exposure. What are your thoughts on that? I think that will be a great idea because we need as much exposure as possible. Right. And if we have that big launch, then we'll be known island-wide. And the thing is, you all have radio stations in Souffre. You all have Liberté FM. You have 88. I'm not hearing you all. You know, so why don't you use that avenue? We'll look into it. Okay. Great idea. You're sure? Yes, we're looking into it. So, okay, so what's next for you all moving forward, really? You know, like I said, you all mentioned certain things, but on a very serious note, have you all, okay, a short-term, medium-term, long-term plans? I mean, are you all working in that regard? Yes, we are. And that's why we're working with the different agencies. So, our short-term was actually to get everything organized. You understand? Right now, we're doing the rebranding and then we want to launch on a big scale. So, long-term, we see ourselves going on the global market. Beautiful. Like we said, we're a HASAP trend. We need to get the building HASAP certified and then we can move forward. Okay. Protective gear and all these things. You all have your PPPs. Everything. Okay. All right. And you all are prepared for the COVID protocols and everything in the country. The schools, I know that should be one of your main markets for your PPPs. It is. So, now schools are coming, you know, opening gradually. So, I'm hoping you all will take some action in Africa. Yeah, and before COVID, we actually got an order from Dimplet. Yes, so. From Dimplet? Yes, we did. Wow, wow. We got an order for PPPs from Dimplet and we went to shows. They'll say all these places, all the schools, all the food pops with us. So, we're looking to come up to the north. You all do tastings? Tastings, yes, we do. Samples, sample sizes. Yes, we do. Okay. Yes, we're all in the thing already. I also forgot to mention that, you know, since most persons are so health conscious, Zhaquot makes us unique is that we run all natural company and all natural food company. So, yes. So, we do not use any artificial flavoring. So, no artificial sugars? No, no. Wow. No, we experimented with cane sugar, also coconut syrup and honey. So, that's exactly what we use. And the fruits are already so sweet, so most of them do not need any added sugar. Wow, yes. Very good. I wish you all success, man. Thank you. I can see great things coming. Thanks. Thank you. I want to take us to the moment of agricultural tips I call agritips, just some things that you should know. For those of you who have planted and still planting tree crops, in your backyard mangoes, limes, grapefruit, you know, avocado pears, you'll notice when the tree starts to grow, the leaves are very, very green and luscious. However, I'm sure you will also, nobody comes in gradually, the leaves turn black. On the leaves, on the upper epidermis of the leaf, you will find a layer, a dark layer. That's a fungus. But that's a secondary host, really. The primary problem here is an insect or two insects. And that is, you have aphids and you have scale insects. All right? And with those insects, they are sucking insects. What they do, they will suck the chlorophyll from the leaves. All right? And the leaves will curl. And because they give out something, some exudates, which are some sugar, honey residues, the fungus will grow on that. By the fungus growing on the sugary coating, it creates a black layer called sutimool. That sutimool will prevent the process of photosynthesis, which of course you know is for the manufacturing of foods. It will prevent that from happening so you may not have flowers, you may have fruits that are retarded, not properly developed. And if you do not treat it, they will die. So you need to treat it with a fungicide and an insecticide. If you treat it with a fungicide alone, the problem will not go away because you need to kill the scale insects and the aphids. So you need to have a combination of the two. But you need to get that information from your extension officer who will guide you as to what to use to ensure that disease is taken care of. If you do not do that, your plants will die. So my ladies, final words from you before we end. Okay, well, I would just like everybody who's listening to spread the word about Jaco. We would like the support, we would like the exposure, and like I said, we're all natural. So that's the lifestyle everybody's moving towards. We're a very unique company, so we just like the support. Thank you very much, Madhyaa. Thank you very much, Madhyaa. And I wish you all success, and I know you all will happen. Next time I come down there, I want to come down there to have a walk-through with your agro-processing plan. Thanks again for being here. You've been watching Agricultural and Move. Thank you for viewing the program. And remember, agriculture is our business. Eat fresh. Say, Lucia's best. The money stays in Fonsejac. I'm Philip Sidney. Goodbye. Agriculture on the move. Agricultural on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move.