 Several stakeholders in the agriculture sector last week took part in an inception workshop hosted by the Building Resilience for Adaptation to Climate Change and Climate Variability in Agriculture in St. Lucia, the breakfast project, with the aim of addressing vulnerabilities within the sector. Given insights as to the most sensitive areas where stakeholders are primarily exposed, vulnerability assessments enable the designing of appropriate interventions to deal with those exposures and their level of risks. National specialists of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, Brent Theofill, says for institutes like ICA, these consultations are important to build capacity, understanding and awareness so they know how to better provide assistance in undertaking remedial actions. ICA for about four years now has been managing what we call the CCRAF. It's a well-established agricultural forum, a regional forum, where we bring stakeholders and practitioners to talk about climate change and adaptation issues related to the agricultural sector. It's heavily focused on practical interventions that farmers, extension officers and technicians can apply in the field as a means of sharing information, building the knowledge and the repository of understanding with regards to things that actually work with regards to climate change adaptation for small farmers. So for me, sitting in and participating and meeting with the technicians and from the mainstream agriculture that work on the breakfast, it also helps in terms of contributing to that forum and enhancing the kind of work that ICA does to collaborate and build, complement rather and build upon other local initiatives. According to the agriculture ministry's priorities when it comes to climate change adaptation and climate change variability, the aim is to build resilience in farming communities and the capacity of stakeholders. Focal Point for the breakfast project April Ditterville says it is expected that as a result of the planned capacity building within the Department of Agriculture, Extension and Advisory Services unit, the agricultural extension officers will also be encouraged to integrate the learned practices in their respective regions through farmer-filled school training sessions, in production and utilization of material for building resilience to climate change in the farm soils. For the ministry, we look at several priorities. The first one, climate change and adaptation, particularly a broad area, but an area that we are trying to push forward within all of our projects in the ministry, looking at food security as well. So part of our work program, engaging the Extension and Advisory Services, they have an integral role to play within the project and really leading the project, engaging farmers, letting farmers know of different climate smart technologies and also building the capacity of our officers now to assess vulnerability on their own and provide farmers more technical information, looking at managing resources, water resources, and we recognize that irrigation is a major issue in agriculture. And so another project, and especially through this consultation this week, we really want to see how we can better observe the farmers and providing them that technology and those equipment so that we can increase the sustainable production. The project's benefits in income and livelihood security are expected to have a significant impact on the farm-family population, as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security, and Rural Development continues its commitment to sustainable agricultural development. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine reporting.