 Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Good day again everyone and welcome to the program agriculture on the move my name is Philip Sidney your host today we will continue to sensitize the public you Joe public and also the farmers the deadly disease that is on the horizon we have spoken about it it's called the TR4 Tropical Race 4 it's a Fusarium Wilt disease and it can wipe out the entire banana industry it attacks all the moosa species which is banana, plantain, helicone any related family to the moosa species it can wipe out our banana industry can be no more and with me today is Mr TR4 himself Mr Winston Elliott who is the chair of the communication committee to actually sensitize the public as far as TR4 is concerned Welcome to the program Mr Elliott Thank you Mr Sidney, thank you for having me here this afternoon Great I know you have done a lot of work since that committee organized it was paid by the minister for agriculture who saw the need and the urgency to sensitize the public because that disease definitely if it hits St Lucia and I want to assure people the disease is not here yet and that is why we need to sensitize the public to let you know about that disease and what it can do so tell us what has to the sensitization program and tell St Lucia what is TR4 Well firstly we need to highlight what TR4 is TR4 is a soil-borne fungus this fungus has the capacity to enter the roots of a banana plant the plant in plant a macabre plant and it actually stops the plant from current physiological functions in so doing it can it will eventually kill the plant most plants that it attacks it eventually kills the plant the plant does not have the capacity to withstand that fungus and when it destroys the plant we have to think about the livelihoods we have to look at the bigger picture of what can happen if TR4 are to reach in St Lucia there are many livelihoods there are many people that depend on the banana industry and the ministry has founded a proactive approach in sensitizing farmers, public stakeholders at large on TR4 and what we can do to prevent TR4 from reaching our shores or in the unwanted event that TR4 has to reach St Lucia we have early detection and we can contain this disease as early as possible Let's go into the physiological action of the plant when TR4 hits it affects the vascular bundles the xylem and the fluem and prevents food and water from being uptick to give your fruit. Is that so? What happens that the fungus enters through the roots of the plant it moves through transpiration through the various parts of the plant mostly the xylem vessels and the plant tends to want to react because it feels there is something foreign and when the plant tries to stop that fungus from going further in the process it cannot transport water and nutrients to the upper parts of the plant to make fruits or to give us a bunch and in so doing this tiffles the plant of water and nutrients and that's where we end up seeing symptoms like wilting yellowing of leaves and the plant dies So there is no cure once that plant is attacked There is absolutely no cure for TR4 right now there are some measures in place like trying to plant the resistant varieties but there are a whole sort of range of challenges with resistant varieties like you might get a fruit that by not taste very well it might take very long you might get a fruit that is not marketable that you can pack in a lunch kit or that might be very tasty there are a lot of challenges but there are no carbon dish right now that is resistant to TR4 Alright, so since that program began and you the chair for that committee I know you have done a lot of work in terms of sensitization to the public what have you done thus far and where you are at this point Well, initially since we are trying to push prevention as much as possible we thought it was necessary to commence with the ports the seaports, the airports so we began sensitization with our stakeholders of Slasper we have met with the customs officials customs officers custom front line staff both in the north and in the south part of this the primary producers, the farmers we have had a series of meetings stretching from Babuno, Soufre you name it, throughout the eight agricultural regions we have had farmer meetings island wide not just presenting to the farmers but this is also a forum that we can consult with our farmers our stakeholders get their take, get their feelings, get their feedback their feedback is extremely important, it's not just about presenting to them, it has to be a participatory approach and we have embraced the feedback that we have gotten from our various stakeholders to improve the plan that we have in sensitizing and carrying out awareness island wide What is the feedback you got from the farmers and the other stakeholders The feedback has been very encouraging a lot of the farmers have felt like hey, tell us what symptoms we have to look out for what is necessary, how can we play our part we encourage farmers to always monitor their farms if you see something that is strange do not take a sample and say you are going to bring it first contact your extension officer they are banana officers, they are extension officers and we come in and we take a visit we do a field visit we will take samples if it is necessary and we can guide you and the response has been extremely overwhelming the stakeholders we have had the telecommunication companies have agreed to come on board we are going to be sending out text messages we are also on social media the response has been extremely encouraging and we look forward to continuing that kind of dialogue with our various stakeholders Say that how close is in terms of proximity country wise is that disease to Saint Lucia well we need to look back to see where the disease has been in 1970 TR4 was in Asia and then by 2014 it had moved to Africa in 2019 it had moved to Latin America and up to January of this year it was reported in Venezuela so this disease is really close to us this is why the ministry has found it absolutely necessary to take a proactive approach and promote prevention prevention for emphasis I repeat prevention and this is why you are going to be seen us out there we continue doing radio programs we are going to reach out to the school school has just reopened and we are going to be continuing with our TV newspaper releases and so on do you all have to interact with the places where the disease is now prevalent what are they doing what have they done thus far the ministry of agriculture is part of a larger body of the FAO where we collaborative those kind of agencies and we have literature we have information as to what signs what symptoms they have seen when they have when the disease has been present there so we just trying to put measures in place in the process of doing a survey that we know in the event the disease which is here we know what we need to do early detection that is what is really important and to push prevention are you all in touch with Seurat are you all working in close proximity with Seurat we work close with Seurat up to recently Seurat was here and we in close dialogue with them we collaborate with in terms of if we have to get samples and doing early detection we work very closely with those agencies Seurat, EECA, FAO the University of the West Indies these are all agencies that we collaborate closely with okay what are you telling the public who is coming into St. Lucia in terms of plant quarantine to actually tell them do not bring plant and plant parts into St. Lucia especially the Musa species because they forget the other heliconeas they have a lovely flower some people like to put them in the carions and take to St. Lucia what are you telling those persons good question Mr Sidney well basically in terms of transportation of plant parts one of the things that we have realized about TR4 it's a disease that can be spread primarily by humans and we encourage persons to not to try and bring in not just about TR4 only but for safety of our our culture industry no plant parts that are not registered you need to go through the phytosanitary use the phytosanitary regulations to ensure whatever that you're bringing in that you have a certificate for soil can be one of the ways that TR4 can be transmitted from one country to another so somebody may have come from a farm in one of those Asian countries or Latin American countries that has been infected by TR4 or some other fungus or bacteria and we encourage people to work closely with us collaborate with us because if TR4 or any of those lethal pathogens have to reach our shores it can wipe out our entire agriculture industry there are many many persons that depend on the banana industry whether we talk about farmers we think about there's a small shop in the farming communities think of even think of the persons that sell bananas by the roadside to the tourists and depend on the tourist dollar the ripple impact of if we were to lose our banana industry is enormous and all of us each and every one of us have a significant role to play I don't think you have to go too far because a little hurricane or storm breaks go on the supermarket shops there are no bananas you go by the market in town you hardly find bananas so far less than TR4 very much so and we can look at that impact the price of banana has increased significantly think about plantings the drive of the ministry of agriculture is not only just to protect the livelihoods but we also looking at food security and a lot of people eat bananas a lot of people eat plantings if we had to have a difficulty in terms of if TR4 had to reach our shores and reach our farms it would be catastrophic now the other thing is that the role of the technical committee the TR4 communications committee is not to we do not want to cause any panic this is just to inform to educate people for us to be prepared to take the necessary corrective measures try not to bring in any planting material that we should not be bringing in somebody bringing a plant from let's say it can be Martinic it can be one of the neighboring islands because one of the really dangerous things about TR4 is that it has what we call a latency period and that is a period where the plant is infected but we cannot see any symptoms called asymptomatic now you might take a planting material you might say you don't see any symptoms on this plant but this one plant can have a huge ripple impact and destroy an entire industry so the latency period where we cannot see any visible symptoms can encourage us to say I'm going to take a chance but what about that plant being infected and it can infect one farm and the ripple impact to affect an entire industry that is the bigger picture that I would like us to be able to appreciate and I think that's well said well said there and I believe now is the time I mean like I said the impact of bananas on the supermarket shelves that you cannot find now just because of a little a little storm far less the TR4 if it hits so that tells a lot so in other words try not to bring anything any plant material go through your phytoscientific office to give you some guidance before you do this you import plants and you can import disease at the same time we do for our first break you are watching agriculture and the move stay tuned don't go away practice routine preventative maintenance of all tools and equipment especially the mist blower to ensure proper functioning clean sprayer after use and service the machine regularly as recommended by the manufacturer whenever you are using pesticides to control black sigatoka disease personal protection and safety measures must be followed spray operators must always wear proper protective gear B4 or wind handling pesticides put on your overalls respirator goggles boots and gloves to avoid contact with the skin inhalation and ingestion of pesticides for more information on how to treat and control black sigatoka on your farm or in your backyard garden contact the black sigatoka management unit at 451-5091 451-5894 or email bpmu at bmw.lc this message is brought to you by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the International Cooperation and Development Fund of the Republic of China on Taiwan welcome back to the program agriculture and the move of course if you have just joined us we are talking about the tropical risk for disease as affecting bananas which we call in short TR4 and we are here with Mr Winston Elliott the man himself who is conducting and also sensitizing the public as far as that program is concerned one of the areas I think that's very important Mr Elliott that we need to speak about and we see it happen all the time I don't know what's happening at the port of entry when used vehicles are coming in we have tractors and loaders that use the vehicle not new coming in and the tires and other parts of the vehicle are loaded with soil what is in place to take care of that because don't forget that's a medium for transportation of the disease well what we have done is part of our consultation with the St. Lucia ANC we are collaborating with our quarantine department and any of those vehicles we are supposed to ensure that we have inspections that none of those vehicles should be coming any soil whatsoever because that can be a strong medium for the fungus being transmitted from one area to another so our quarantine is playing a strong role together with the slasper and our customs division so if that happens a car or vehicle is getting solution that's loaded with soil what do you all do we have to ensure that this vehicle does not leave the port unless it is properly sanitized and would have to put mechanisms in place to ensure that does not happen moving forward I remember when we began this task force we had in place foot baths at the various ports where is that at this point in time we are making some really good head we have already decided where the foot baths are going at both of our ports of entry and also at our ferry terminals we are looking at that we have already been in contact with the suppliers in Australia for the manufacture of those mats so we are making some good head way along the lines we have visited the various ports of entry and we intend to hopefully implement those very soon we have gotten some very good collaboration from Slasper on this initiative the task force is working full speed ahead on this and this is something that we making really good progress with this activity is really a collaborative activity and of course I'm sure the many stakeholders involved can you tell us who are your stakeholders involved in the programme we have a number of stakeholders like I said earlier on Slasper role is really key in terms of prevention we are talking about the ports of entry the air and the sea ports the customs roles is really important they play a major role we are looking at sensitising students because when students we go to the schools we tell the students about TR4 they go home and they tell their parents they re-emphasise the point that we are bringing across the farming community we have been working closely with the national fair trade organisation the banana exporters they are also part of our technical committee these are the core persons that make a part of our committee and our stakeholders but I need to also mention we have some other major stakeholders like Marci has come on board and said hey are we going to support you all of the way both of our telecommunication companies have come on board and said we are going to be assisting you you can use our social media we are going to give you some space on use our billboards Floor said we can use their billboards and we are going to be putting up some post some large billboards with TR4 information in the near future that is in the pipeline so you have got some really good support from those agencies in promoting TR4 great ok so moving forward what is the next step right now we are going to continue sensitization because sensitization is not just about hey this is what we are doing now we have to look at what we are doing tomorrow what we are doing next week what we are doing next year all of these play an integral role in sensitizing we have gotten a lot of feedback from the farming community people of saying hey what can I do how can I contribute we have a session with farmers in that community I have gotten a couple of calls from the school saying we would like you to come in and have a talk with our agricultural science students so it is ongoing and it is something that we consider is really important and we will be sending out various messages to keep the public sensitized because there are a lot of people that depend on the banana industry the planted industry and like I said earlier it is not just about people in terms of livelihoods that is significant but also food security plantain and bananas is a staple green figs is a huge part of our diet green fig and salt fish our national dish finger people that like their green figs and their backs we have pears those that like their green figs they have pears they have their little salad and it really contributes immensely that is why every one of us have a role to play that you travel in somewhere you do not try and stick in a plant that might come with a disease and we are not just talking about care for the citrus diseases the diseases that affect tomatoes, sweet peppers and like cucumbers all of us all of these are measures that we need to implement to ensure that we do not try to beat the system and just try to bring in one plant an entire industry it happened already many many times people sneaking in stuff and at the end of the day we do not know where the disease come from and that is why we need to be very very concerned about this not by the unparalleled team right? of course of course of course we need to stick in there and we need we need to on this would say So it's a baguette that's really important peel for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa from Vincent Lissie. Do you know about Chopin-Sa? Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. So it's a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. Chopin-Sa is a very important product for us to try and appreciate Chopin-Sa. I was about to end the program because we have another minute left. Moving forward, like you said, you are continuing to work with the stakeholders to sensitize the public? Yes, the other thing I'd like to say, I'd like to express profound thanks to all of the stakeholders. How they have contributed, how they have embraced us, they have always been keen to support us, ask for information and to participate. The support we have gotten has been overwhelming and I encourage people to continue giving us that support because many livelihoods depend on the banana industry, food security is at stake, safeguarding this industry is paramount to many persons. So thank you very much Mr Sidney. Well, thank you for being here and continue doing the good work. I know you have done tremendously well, so continue doing the good work to sensitize the public. Thank you again. We have been watching agriculture in the move as you have heard. I was speaking to the man himself, the TR4 man, Mr Winston Elliott. And he's going to continue that program as he see fit with his committee to continue to sensitize Joe Blue as far as TR4 is concerned. Remember, agriculture is our business. Eat fresh, St. Lucia's best. I'm Philip Sidney saying goodbye and see you again. Thank you sir. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move. Agriculture on the move.