 With the overarching goal of ensuring food security and creating sustainable livelihoods for all stakeholders involved, recent efforts were made by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development to underscore the importance of the agro-processing sector in national development. A meeting was held with agro-processors across St Lucia, providing comprehensive insights into the prevailing dynamics of the agro-processing industry. This served as a platform for industry leaders, entrepreneurs and experts to delve into the current state of affairs within the agro-processing arena. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Honourable Alfred Prosper acknowledges that while the sector contributes to the GDP, there is ample potential for it to assume a more substantial role within the local economic framework. An analysis of the importance and export data for agro-processed food items was performed for a five-year period from 2017 to 2022. The data showed that agro-processed products accounted for an average of 37 percent of St Lucia food imports, making up the largest part of the local food import bill. Minister Prosper emphasized the importance of collectively addressing challenges and capitalizing on the nation's strengths to foster a more resilient and prosperous agro-processing sector. A lot of what we produce here are exported but we have to import them back into St Lucia and we must do better than that as a ministry, as a government. There have been a number of calls to me. Why is it we have so much citrus wasting all over the place? We have mangoes wasting all over the place but yet we import a lot of those products. I believe it is time for us to take stock of what we grow locally and find new innovative ways to get into small manufacturing plants that can make those products easily available to us locally. The Ministry of Agriculture is and we are in dedication to supporting the agro-processing sector, fostering its sustainable growth and ensuring the welfare of its citizens underscores its commitment to the nation's food security and economic prosperity. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.