 and welcome to the program, Agriculture on the Move. I am Philip Sidney, your host, and I also like to welcome you to the program at the Command Center of the National Television Network, NTN. Today, our discussion surrounds the Fruit and the Vegetable Import Substitution Project. We also call it the Seven Crops Project. And with me to dissect that project is Mr. Kemuel Jabatis, who is the Chief Extension Officer and he's to my right. And in the center is Miss Adlin Yudovic, who is the coordinator of that project. And Mr. Thaddeus Constantine, who is the Acting Chief Enterprise Development Officer. And we all are from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources, and the Cooperatives. Gentlemen and lady, welcome to the program. Thank you. Adlin, as the coordinator, and of course, I know you have done quite a good job with that project. Tell St. Lucia the genesis of this project. Okay. Good morning again. Good afternoon. The project we're speaking about today is a project for enhancing the efficiency of production distribution supply chain in the fruit and vegetable sector. This project, as you said, is commonly called the Seven Crops Project. The project was conceptualized by the Ministry of Agriculture some years ago and we started it last year. That will be 2019. The main aim of the project is to reduce the importation of certain crops. We notice that our food import bill is very high. Up to last year, our food import bill was well over $367 million. And we notice that there is something that can be done within the Ministry. So this project is geared at doing just that, at reducing the food import bill through the increased production of these crops and increased consumption of these crops locally. Okay. Moving forward, so what was the strategy here in terms of the preparation of that project with the officers in the Ministry? Okay. The preparation started from obviously going into the data and seeing what crops have been, the traditional crops in St. Lucia. So we look at certain crops that we know that have been produced for, that have been produced for a long time, such as tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, pineapple. These are the main crops that we're looking at. So these crops are the crops that we have been pushing for a long time in St. Lucia as a Ministry. And the farmers have the know-how, the technical savvy to produce these crops and to produce them well. So we know that these crops are crops we consider, as I said, traditional crops and the importations still remain high. This is because of many reasons we could discuss later. But within the Ministry, we seek some assistance and we got this from the government of Taiwan through the ICDF office. So this project is funded by the Taiwan Technical Mission in St. Lucia. Okay. Okay, so from then on, you were able to link with the extension officers. Was there the ones that are driving that project? Definitely, definitely. The Ministry, different departments in the Ministry, different units are integral in this whole project. So we have extension, the extension officers. We have marketing unit. We have engineering. We also have research. So all the different units in the Ministry work. We work in sync to push this project forward and to make sure it's a success. Okay. Kamuel, as the Chief Extension Officer and driving that project, I'm sure there was a plan in terms of our production scheduling. Yes. Tell us exactly about this in terms of looking at where those crops are grown best in the ecological zones. All right, thank you. And thank you for having me here today. So when the project was conceptualized, we proceeded to look at the data in terms of, as Adlin rightly mentioned, to see what quantities were being imported. Because keep in mind, we were not really too concerned about what was already being produced because what was being produced was being absorbed by the existing markets, the hotel, the street markets and the supermarkets. So having gone through the data, we looked at what it is that was being imported. And we did engage the farming community in the early stages to indicate to farmers who might be interested. One of the things that we did and we continue to do at the inception stages, we got a sort of a verbal commitment from some of the farmers in terms of their capacity. Those who are already producing, do they have the capacity to expand by what acreage? Do you have an extra acre? Do you have an extra quarter acre? We also spoke with persons who perhaps were not traditionally producing the crop but were interested in producing maybe one, two or three of those. And we inquired as to what the acreage that they have available. Because it's one thing to decide that you're going to work towards increasing the production and productivity. But we don't do that as a ministry, we provide technical support services. So a major part of the process was to engage the farmers. So from early on, we got indication as to what they available acreages are and what sort of assistance that they would be looking for in terms of participation in the project. Having done that in the later stages up to more recently, we also have been engaging the farmers in terms of seeing what the schedules look like. What have they been, at what times of year we were able to get information as to what times of year they traditionally grown. Now, during the process, you come across farmers who have these historical ways of doing things at a particular time of year. But the crops that we are talking about are not seasonal. These crops can be grown year round under the right conditions. We also took a look at those people who have greenhouses, they protected agriculture. And we were able to come up with a skeleton schedule as to how many greenhouses. Now we did a survey, I think, in the early 2000s and we had somewhere in the range of about 300 of those structures on Island. And we were able to engage some of the people and see what the conditions were in terms of scheduling production in those greenhouses at the appropriate time. And so a couple of things, we engaged the producers, we got an indication of what the available acreages were and what the available greenhouse facilities would be. And we used that to begin the process of deciding what number of acres we would need to cut off on that importation number that we were looking at for those specific crops. Well, how were you able to find out the acreages required at the specific time? The project, is it, there's a certain percent, is it 30% then that you're looking at or 40%? So what was the scheduling like? So initially when we started off, we used time series data. So we looked at the data from about 2015, 2016. So we run 2015 all the way to about 2018 in terms of what the importation numbers were. But we didn't just look at it on an annual basis, we also looked at it on a quarterly basis. The quarterly basis would help us to determine for every specific quarter what it is that we're importing as a proxy. It's not absolutely correct, but it's a proxy that allows you to determine, okay, for the first quarter, we were looking at 150,000 pounds of a particular crop that redounds to about 15 acres. So for that quarter, you target that number of acres. So this is the approach that we generally use in terms of determining what it is that we want to put in the ground. Because like I'm repeating, we're not looking at what's already been sold locally. What we're looking to do is to look at what has been imported and to tap into that import market and reduce it. Okay, with that now, obviously it's market driven. Yes, okay. Now, Tadias, I know that from the farm to the market, it has to be organized, okay? You're dealing with the hotels. You're dealing, of course, with our new marketing entity that is about to come on stream, okay? How is that organized? How it must have a format? How were you able to be in sync from the production to the market? And to ensure that the hotel gets what they want on time. Okay, so within the market, we already had a lot of existing contracts where farmers already had the arrangements that they had already set up through the hotels and through the wholesalers. And these were investigated. But along with that, one of the things that happened is because we realized within the food chain, and that's not only for these seven crops. For all of the crops that we produce on the island, we have problems with potential contaminants, biological, chemical, physical contaminants that get into the food chain and that affect the quality of the end product. And so along with investigating what was already happening and strengthening that, these relationships, we also looked at how we could have strengthened the market in board, the San Lucia market in board. The San Lucia market in board is a key player in the agricultural landscape because it provides a secure market for our farmers. And it is one of the few markets that we within the government and service can use to intervene within the sector and to regularize things. And so one of the activities that was first performed was to put a pack house in within the San Lucia market in board. We're up to international standards. As we speak, it's been finished and the training's been done to ensure that the staff within the market in board are able to manage the pack house up to an international standard to ensure that we have safety within our food chain. And so one of the ways we have looked at this seven crops project is it's a chance for us to ensure we have greater food safety. And to use the lessons learned later on in the other crops that we're going to look at. So that was a key component. Firstly, understanding the market, the landscape. We had our teams going out doing surveys, interviews. We compiled that information. And from there, we saw a number of challenges within the market. For example, the hotels had challenges with lettuce. Lettuce is a very perishable crop. And out of there, we were able now to rethink our work programs within the Ministry of Agriculture and look at the new challenges that some of them we were aware of, some we were not. And also do the same for the marketing net. To ensure that the end product is at the standard of the internationally imported product. Okay, but with marketing, I don't want to mention marketing board. For me, that is no more. Yes, yes. People don't want to hear that name anymore. They will get a new name soon, board. So for now, I think we should look at it as the new marketing entity. Entity, yes. That's what we're looking at. And I'm hoping they find a proper name because trust me, farmers out there do not want to hear. It's a bad taste in them of hearing since you're a marketing board. But I'm happy to hear the restructuring of it. But then, will a marketing board be the one to avoid many farmers going to the hotels to sell so that they can come to the marketing board and the hotels now can purchase via the marketing board? Okay, so ideally we would encourage that scenario because we do not want the problems getting to the hotels though. We want to be able to nip these problems in the bud before they get to the hotel. So with the pack house that has been established at the marketing board, we would now be able to ensure that the end product is of the desired quality. It is a challenge to be able to tell, we cannot always tell the hotelier and also the farmer to not enter into contracts. And these contracts, we're in the ministry, we have to do our best to assist both parties within these contracts so that the contracts are fulfilled to the best ability. But as a ministry going forward, we are looking at this marketing entity as a chance to revolutionize farming. A lot of changes have been made. One of the most significant being the repayment schedule. So our farmers had sometimes a three-month turnaround. That's a three-month turnaround has now been moved through the very hard work of a number of hardworking people in there. It has been moved to 14 days. And so within 14 days, our farmers can now expect a paycheck from the new entity. Another thing that also happened because of the beautiful work that was done by Adeline and the team is that within our COVID response, that entity was able to step up and to step up in a very big way for the island. And it occurs well for us that the work that we do can bring us comfort in times of distress. And so we will continue striving to strengthen that new entity. I know Adeline will talk a little bit about some of the databases that we're preparing and how these are going to work. And along with that, we also have a number of young entrepreneurs that are coming into the fore. We have one, Fresh Street Caribbean, young Saint Lucien, who has released a website. And we're trying to assist him with his networking. And he has a very beautiful product. And it's an online market where there's no need to go out of your house. You could do everything from the comfort of your company. We have another set of young men who have organized themselves into a group called GURU and who are releasing an online app. And that app now would allow our farmers and our hoteliers and our wholesalers to interact. So the market is very dynamic. New entity plays a very key role. However, we have to try to support all of the different aspects of the market. Great. Adeline, going back a bit, we're still in pre-COVID mood. What assistance were given by the Taiwanese, all right, in that project? I also heard about the hoop greenhouse. Could you mention all of this? Okay. The assistance given range from input assistance. Most farmers got some assistance with ground cover that was in the beginning of the project. Farmers got assistance with seeds. Other farmers got assistance with just the different agrochemicals that were required for production. In most cases, we came in with training for the farmers because we recognized when we were doing our different database surveys and so on that some farmers were registered in the ministry but they didn't receive any official training. From the different discussions we've had the different purchasers, like the different soil markets or hotels, they notice a difference between the farmers who are trained vis-a-vis those who are untrained. So we recognize that early and we embarked on a series of training for the farmers. The training included good agriculture practices, safe use of pesticides, post harvest handling, and a whole gamut of topics, let's say that the farmers were needed to bring them up to what the expectations of the markets were. So the farmers received that and it was very well received. Farmers gave extremely good reviews about these trainings and we proceeded also with pineapple training. We noticed that in the sector, there was the different shortcomings when it came to the different knowledge, the knowledge gaps from the farmers in the right time for even for harvesting to flower induction to cause early onset of fruiting and so on. So we did all this kind of training with the farmers and also in the hoop greenhouses, as you mentioned. So I'll speak about the hoop greenhouses. This is a new technology that's been introduced to our environment. It originated from Taiwan. So traditionally in Taiwan, it's used for cantaloupe and honeydew. So we continue along these same lines because this is one of the crops that we are looking at. And so far we did one round of experiments so far under these greenhouses with the same cantaloupe and honeydew. We have established 16 of these greenhouses around the island in different microclimates. When I say microclimates, I mean in areas that are high elevation as compared to low elevation, in areas that are considered hotter, like you know, Schroesel area and a cooler area like in Souffre or Babuno or somewhere like that, you know, like a Basso or some place like that, right? So we're doing that experiment right now and so far the results are very, very encouraging. We're noticing that the marketable yield is better. That means you have less rejects. We've seen that even the consistency in the fruit size is better under these greenhouses. We've seen also that even the taste is coming out a bit sweeter because it provides some shelter from the different elements. So everything is coming out better for us so far. And it looks well. So we're going into our second round of trials for the rainy season now, which is really what we're trying to target. So we did the dry season one already and then we're coming out of that now. That was good. So we're expecting even better results for the rainy season trials, all right? So in each plot we have a control plot where we could see what is the normal husbandry practices and we're doing the trial with the hook greenhouses. So with that, these are just three of the interventions so far, but they have several other interventions that I'll speak of later, such as the AIR system. Traditionally speaking earlier about the pack houses, I should mention that in the pack house, we also have a test room. All right, we should not forget that because every conversation is about chemical residue and so on. So in the pack house, we have the ability to do a rapid test, right? And to see if there are any chemicals in these fruits and in these crops, right? So we have lots of different interventions that we're looking at, which will go a long way in improving our whole agriculture sector. Great, I'll come back to this testing because that is crucial, right? Because our consumers are very concerned now. Yes, we are. As to the pesticides and the hash ones that we use and they're very concerned about that. We've only have this thing in terms of the gestational period of the crop and stuff like this. But Kimwell, your officers, okay, they have adapted this new technology. They're also involving the same crop project. Prior to COVID, are you, how many farmers can you see that adopted the project? And what were the challenges? Okay, so when the project roll out, it was our intention to identify basically all persons who were involved in the cultivation of these crops. Having identified all the persons, then we were able to sift out and see who would be interested in participating. Like any project, sometimes they expected timelines are not met. So whereas we anticipated we would have started all the way in early 2019, we really didn't start off until June 2019. What it did is it caused a little frustration. So for example, we're referring to the Hoops greenhouses that we're talking about. The farmers, like anything else, are excited. They've committed themselves, they've committed their space. There's a slight delay in terms of projected dates for setting up. And so we've had to navigate through this. We've had to negotiate with the farmers and help them appreciate that that sort of delay will take place. And so the field officers have been out there doing their utmost best to ensure that when the promises have been made, as far as possible, that we actually upkeep those promises in terms of deliverables. Like anything else, there's some persons who set off well. So we've had one or two persons who probably just came off and said, I'm not interested anymore. But we're hoping that the success stories of the participants, those who are actively participating, is gonna drop persons back into participating in the project and its outputs. I want our audience to bear in mind, because very often I think we short change the project by calling it seven crops and import substitution. A couple key components of the project is improve production efficiency. So when you hear us speak of using ground cover, a person growing those melons without the ground cover could easily lose any upwards of 40% just because it's interacting with the soil. And so that is one step to improving efficiency. When you have the hoop greenhouses, the rainy season is upon coming, we have severe challenges maintaining production levels in that season. You introduce this greenhouse, it is anticipated that it will cut off the rain and give us a chance to maintain production levels and productivity. But one of the challenges that persons may not be aware of, the person who's not participating in actual production may not be aware of, is not that farmers are not establishing the crops in the rainy season. The crops are being established. The challenges we have to contend with the elements. And so that is where hopefully the hoop greenhouses coupled with ground cover, coupled with the training that we're offering to the farmers is gonna push us forward in terms of enhancing productivity. So they usually farmers get, perhaps maybe up to 50, 60% of the crops production potential. It is anticipated that if we use the right technologies that we could get a higher level, maybe at 80, 90% of the crops production potential which will be down to better returns. And for the consumer, maybe if the farmer is able to increase his productivity might be able to settle for a slightly less surprise which would be a benefit to our consumers. So the field officers now, we are working together with the project team because there is a project team. So a lot of the work being done at the field level in terms of organizing, in terms of informing, in terms of bringing those folks together, that will be the work of the field officers. And it has its challenges because sometimes schedules go awry and that sort of stuff. So part of our training as extension is to be able to negotiate with our clientele to help them calm down a bit when things do not fall into place. One of the problems I know, and I would say problem, challenges is the question of crop monitoring. It's a bit difficult to work with a traditional farmer who wants to plant everything. However, his ecological zone and soil conditions may be tuned to grow in Sikabich for that matter. But then you, did you get any problems with such farmers gravitating to this new project? So production monitoring and production scheduling have been huge challenges for us. Now tell you why. We obtain the data, we process the data, but because we do not make a purchase, sometimes the relationship with the farmer and the marketplace is not well organized. And so whereas we know what the farmer is producing by the time the buyer is ready, that relationship is, it goes awry. So what we've sought to do is, and again the project team has a data processing person on board, so the field officers have worked with that specific person on a, I think it was a monthly basis or there about, quarterly basis, we went out there and we've gathered information as to what is established, what is anticipated in terms of the crops, the quantities and that sort of stuff. The whole idea here is to sort of use that information to help persons navigate and prepare and to also reschedule for the next quarter. The challenge with that is we have, we have the sidebar people, the guys sitting on the rock who's of the opinion that he's gonna do whatever he has been doing traditionally and will not give any due cognizance or regard to any schedules. The market is relatively small, so any significant spike in increase in the short run will cause an oversupply. I'm sure consumers these days are very happy with cucumbers because they're coming out of our ears and we do not even import it, that's why it's not on the listing. And the same thing happens with watermelons and all the other crops. If we are not careful and the farmers will not give due regard to paying attention to scheduling, within short spaces we have these peaks and then when you come maybe like four weeks later you can't find the same crop that you will get in abundance because of limited storage space, limited processing, we have these dynamics. And so the field officers, although the data is being collected and processed, the dynamics that is required between the producer and the buyer, we still have to find ways to try and negotiate through that so that we do not get those peaks and those troughs that cause frustration for everybody. So, okay, now that links with marketing ball. The information that's collected is there that information sharing with the marketing entity in terms of scheduling markets for the hotels and other markets out there because they have to be that link. So is there, is there, is there? I'm gonna add links to that because the team that she works with has been connecting and also I think it's a good place to talk about the agricultural resources there. Correct, so let me do the areas. So let me do the areas. And you'll take a chat from there. Okay, so one of the tools that was afforded to us under this project was an agricultural resource system which is actually a very smart database. It's a database that will allow us, our farmers to interact with the extension officers more efficiently, allow our farmers to interact with the market more efficiently because the ARS sits at the Ministry of Agriculture on our service. However, it is shared, the information is shared with the marketing board and also the farmers have their app. So it is divided into a farmer's app, an extension officer's app and a website for the management. Within the ARS, one of the most beautiful components of this system is that it will produce a QR code with a batch number for each batch. So if you decide to grow a batch of melons today, this week, today being the 14th, 15th, and you decide to grow your batch of melons and you call your extension officer, you put in the information on your app that you planted this melons, your extension officer would automatically see it. On his app, and it would automatically show up with a batch number and a QR code would begin. So every time you put in a new activity, that activity would be stored, your extension officer would be away, but also the marketing board, the marketing entity would be away and we admin would be away. So the information would be in real time but it would be shared on a common platform. And we're expecting this to really revolutionize the way we work in San Rusya. For too long our farmers have been trying to call, they have the crop and two weeks before they call around and then they call us at the marketing office and then I have to put an officer to find a market for them. I think these days are going to be gone because our market, our buyer and our producer would be able to be in contact with our extension officers providing that middleman support service. But along with that, because of the batch number that is provided by the QR code, now the consumer would now be able to scan the product and would be able to see what happened to that product. When was it harvested? What did they put in it? But it would also open up the door for exports. And it's an area that we have not paid much attention to it within our seven crops project because we've been focused on fixing our local market and fixing our production, bringing our production up to that international standard. But it will also open up the door for our exports because now one of our biggest challenges was our lack of pack houses and also lack of traceability in our agricultural sector. And so now exports in Russia can now take these crops and start to run with them. No longer worrying about having to find a pack house for inspections and having to find farmers that keep records. Automatically all our farmers will be keeping records. So this is one of the more beautiful tools that has come out of this project and I can assure you, we are not going to let you go to waste. We are going to put it to the maximum use. Great. The lady? Okay, so let me advertise, you can come to advertise. That the name of this app, it should be called ifarm.govt.lc. So the extension officers as Thaddeus rightly said will have access. The farmers will have access to even advertise what they have ahead of it coming out in terms of the harvest date. The ministry will be able to see what's on the ground in real time, as he mentioned. And we could run reports on what's happening. If we want to see what's happening in watermelon, we could run a report on that to see when it's going to come out, what's going to happen to watermelon and we could run projections as to what will happen in this sector. Like anything else we do, and we do know that we have unforeseen, like in weather systems, pre-elastic, what have you. But then, if everything works properly, this system is going to revolutionize how we do business in agriculture. It will allow us further to even analyze what's happening. Just sit down there and see everything. And as I said, I'm very, very excited about that app that's coming out. We'll have a mobile app, we'll have farmers on the field could put it in. It should allow the extension officers. Then the extension officers have to be proactive now and go and see what's happening there in the field because the farmers will have access equally like us. So this one, as I said, is iFarm.govt.lc. We anticipate that at the end of August, it should be ready for the grant and rolling out there for use of the public. I'm happy for that because we see one of the things I have conceptualized is that should be able to lure young people into agriculture because it's new technology that's coming on the stream. And that is what, the dream agriculture is no more. You know what I mean, it's now we are moving fast. How long is that project? Project is three years. So we had last year, this year and next year. Okay, what happens after that? Well, we expect that, like anything like that, we'll see, we'll do an analysis of the data, post-mortem, right, a sport, right? To see what we could do differently. And we also have other crops as well. That's right. You know, we don't have only seven crops. We have just about 21 crops in our food baskets right now. So we look at these other crops as well because I'm sure even from now, that project is going to be a success because we have lots of success stories already. In fact, before we get into the post-COVID, tell us a success story with the lowering of the food import bill as far as those crops are concerned. Okay, so last year, as I said, we had many interventions with the farmers from training to input supply, to substitution of different materials that needed. And we realized that our target for the first year was very realistic. We had a 5% expectation for the food import bill for these seven crops because we knew that we had lots of different surveys and database to come up with and to make sure our baselines are right. So we did reach our goal for 4.75% reduction in the food import bill. Beautiful. Well said. So exact 4.75%. So this year, I know that we will not might not reach our goal of our 10% to 15% because of COVID, but we will pick up as we go along because the hotels are reopening, the store markets and the restaurants are buying more now. And we expect that we could reach, maybe close to our target, but our ultimate target is 30% reduction in the three years, right? And we are projecting more, but we have to remain at least realistic for now. Yes, because it's a new project and we have to go and learn as we go along. Great. Good. COVID hit. Hotels are closed. Yes. What were your challenges from a marketing standpoint? From the marketing standpoint was, like you said, availability of markets. Our farmers were clamoring for markets. With the hotels being shut and so abruptly, it didn't give them a chance to plan and to look at a second option. And luckily, our marketing entity was there. During the time of the 24-hour lockdown, the marketing entity continued its work. So the Ministry of Agriculture with the support of NIMO, NIMO issued passes to our farming community and also to the marketing entity, the workers at the marketing entity. So the marketing entity went island wide. They bought produce from the farmers. A lot of that produce became part of our care packages that was then taken to the communities to ensure that- What are the care packages? So the care packages was, it's a system that was developed by the Prime Minister's office to give some kind of relief during COVID. And it constituted putting a number of food items. They were actually listed along with, to ensure that we have a good balance of protein. We have carbohydrates and we have our fruits and our vegetables. So the marketing entity, the marketing board, were responsible for putting these packages together. The fish was produced, provided by Lushan Blue Ocean. And then some arrangement was made for chicken and eggs. And then the marketing entity put these packages together and these packages were collected and distributed throughout the communities. It's still ongoing. It's still ongoing? Yes, it's the end of September, I think. Yes. So we do 1,000 a month. A week. A week. A week. A week. A week. A week. A week. A week. A week. A week. 24 hours of them caught them by surprise. Our farmers were still able to sell to the new entity. And that new entity was now able to use that produce that was purchased from the farmers to ensure that comfort was brought to a lot of San Doshan families. So with COVID, we saw a new use for that great tool that we had that we never really used, which would be our marketing board. Our marketing board really stepped up in a very big way. And they continue ensuring that there is a market for our farmers. Now the traditional markets, some of the traditional markets never shut down really to talk about for not for a long period. Like Massey continued doing the good work that they do with the farmers, ensuring that they provide a home for a lot of our farmers. So a lot of our farmers work directly with Massey. And then we also had some of the players being CPJ, Transpacary, Ben Lizzie, Lagood, providing a market for some of the farmers. So we did see some contraction within the market, but also we did see the market evolve to meet the new circumstance. And our farmers also did move with that new environment. We also saw quite a lot of pineapples and tomatoes on the market during, but apparently all of this were sold, Mr. Cio. So again, COVID shows that nobody's expecting it. Farmers are not just producing for supermarkets and street markets. The hotel represents a significant portion of the distribution of produce. And so when that suddenly contracts as Constantine rightly points out, it now becomes available on the local street market. One of the things that we discovered and that is commendable and I would like to say, kudos to farmers, farmers, among the most resilient people. Some of our farmers were now able to very quickly go on their Facebook pages and begin to offer to a Facebook community that wish they had. It was not unusual for some of these farmers to have 150 packages ready for sale. Some of our farmers had their orders coming in through their Facebook pages. And making deliveries. Delivering home deliveries. Another thing that I think that the project contributed to with the farmers markets that we have been running pre-COVID, we saw a number of street side markets emerge. In some of the locations I could refer to would be like Miku and places like Piaesh or Zell and a few other places. It was a little challenging to go into the supermarkets because of all the restrictions, the lines were long. People needed fresh produce. So within those communities, the farmers came together in some cases and other cases, vendors set up within communities and farmers were able to bring in their produce. So I would like to really commend the farming public. As I said, necessity is the mother of inventions and these farmers, they rose up, they realized, look, there's nothing that we could do in terms of going to hotels, but we have produce and people want the produce, which was what was important. They had and was a lot of the crops that we had. The unfortunate thing I'll tell you about this scenario is that we were not able to capture the data in terms of the quantities sold through these channels. So in terms of our reporting, we may have a little bit of a challenge to tell St. Lucia Underwood, the quantity of produce that was traded during that period. But what we want to really celebrate is that initially it looked like it was all lost. The produce was ripening in the field and these guys got up and got a revelation. Some of the farmers worked together as a consortium. Some worked individually, but what it did was to allow persons to get rid of the produce distributed to the homes. And so I'd like to really commend the St. Lucia and farmers again for such initiatives. Let us go back to the farmers market, which is what we forgot to mention in the pre-COVID situation. What was the objective of the farmers market? Well, as Camero was referring to a while ago, we were expecting that farmers will get non-traditional markets, outlets for sale, because they have the traditional store markets, the restaurants, the hotels, but we're looking at community sales, sales at the community level, where persons in the community could access these foods more readily. So they could come in the farmers market, learn about the different crops that have been pushed right now, see different ways of preparing it as well, because part of the farmers market, we had the different processors coming in for sale and display of the items. We also had the schools taking part in almost like a competition to see who could prepare a beautiful, delicious dish out of the watermelon or the pineapple or whatever under the project. So the schools took part in that where they got a chance to show the creativity, right? And then we also had Ministry of Health coming on board with the different testings for diabetes and showing, yeah, the different discounted promotion and also showing the nutritive value of these crops and why they should be consumed and the different benefits for the health of our solutions, right? So the farmers market served many, many objectives, but the main one ultimately is to increase sales and increase consumptions of these seven crops. And that would, COVID, yes, it had its negativities, but it really opened our eyes. Yes, it did. But in fact, for years, we have been talking about eat fresh solutions best. Consume what we grow. It's healthier than what is important. We don't know what is important in terms of traceability. We don't know, but at least we know what we have here, all right? And we need to keep on. It shows this phase quite vividly. Post-COVID, I can recall it with the total lockdown. I remember my good friend, François, who was producing his seedlings down there. I mean, once in a while, the people were driving. And from the lockdown, there was traffic jam. Up to now, there's traffic jam, you know? So, let's just see you back here, Dardney, has come to the fore. Ah, back here, Dardney, back here, Dardney. Everybody's interested in this. Everybody is Dardney. Everybody. And thankfully, the ministry, we were in part prepared for it in terms of preparing people. We had these videos, these YouTube videos produced a while back that looked at issues of site selection, preparation of grow boxes, preparation of seedlings. I think we had about eight or so programs prepared, about half an hour each one of these. And the ones related to marketing and preservation we had not done. But what it allowed us to do was when COVID showed up and persons, the preppers began to realize like, look, we may have a challenge with availability of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and so on. Most persons started getting their hands dirty. Again, you were home. Going to the supermarket world could have been a frustration. The space was there. And so most persons who called, we referred them to take a look at these videos. I mean, some cases, some of the field officers were able to do some home visits, not very popular, but they were able to do some home visits. And of course we gave the public our commitment that if they needed support, all they had to do was call. I think the OECS also, with among its staff also rolled out a backyard gardening program. Initially we were a little concerned because when you have extensive backyard gardening taking place in an environment where your hotels are not in operation and you have no exports. And then we are asking on the Seven Crops project for the farmers to produce. To produce. Exactly, we were going to buy it. Exactly. But like I said, my explanation was, look, we have countless numbers of minibuses on the roads, but we have lots of motor cars, family cars. The minibuses still get to run. There's space in the environment. So it didn't, persons who came a little troubled about availability or there being pics or excesses. I said, look, I don't think we have excesses of cars or transportation. All the cars run, everybody gets a job done. So same principle applies. The homeowner gets a personal gratification of having participated in something that's rewarding for them, both intrinsically and extrinsically. The farmer still has a group of persons who are not production savvy who are going to make the purchase and that sort of stuff. And so backyard gardening was a really welcome breath of fresh air during that period. And I think it is taking roots and I'm seeing a lot more people continue in it. The only unfortunate part about the backyard gardening is we're trying to restrict it to just crops, to a less extent livestock. And for the reason why we have to stress livestock to a less extent, particularly chicken, because of the restrictions and possible contamination created by these, and of course the nuisance created by the odors from certain animals. And so I'm hoping that persons don't get frustrated and say, well, I'm a livestock farmer, why am I not being allowed to cut it, to rare my chickens and so on. But I would like to celebrate all St. Lucian's, all home owners who during that period were able to go out there, get their hands dirty and get a greater appreciation for the commitment and hard work that is associated with food production and understanding according to Adeline. We used to say, eat what you grow, grow what you eat. Well, the mantra is eat what you know and know what you eat. And then eat fresh and it's just best. Eat fresh and it's just best. Can I forget that one? You can't forget that one. But you know what, the interesting thing is on that line, Mr. Constantine, don't forget the farmers till, my concern was the farmers not being able to sell the produce. And then here was the care packages, but there was also the quarantine facilities that had to be fed. Oh, yes, yes, yes. The quarantine facilities, they'd purchase very large amount of produce. And along with that, we did have a number of non-profit groups that did step up, one of them being IPA, Independent Processes Association. Oh, yes, in the big way. That stepped up in a very big way. Big way. And created a market for our farmers because they prepared lots and lots of meals. For the frontliners. For the frontliners, ensuring that our frontline staff were well fed. Because a lot of our frontline staff were not even able to go home. They were there for hours upon hours, shift upon shift. And so we had these non-profits stepping up. And that was, that was great. It was a great time. It was a time where we really saw San Lucien's being. And there was Comradry. Yes, yes. That was a good thing. For IPA, this is, I mean, we haven't said thank you at the Ministry of Agriculture. Yes, so we can say thank you to them now. Thank you to IPA for stepping up. Yes, yes. And they were newly, they're not even registered as yet. They're newly formed. We're just getting them organized. And they took step up in such a large way. So a lot of people stepped up. And like Emel said, you could have a lot of buses on the road, but you still have a lot of cars. Our householders, I would like to encourage them to think of tilapia for the backyard. Yes, yes. Shrimp. Yes. They do very well in the backyard. Aquaponics. Aquaponics, yes. That's what you need to do. Yeah, they need to do aquaponics. They need to investigate aquaponics. It's always good to supplement your income with a little production from your backyard. There will always be a market for our farmers. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think the first into backyard gardening has been a beautiful note. Actually, I think it will encourage local consumption. In fact, during that period, I noticed there were lots of postings, man. People actually showed their various skills in the making of the boxes and the tires, the tire culture, using the PVC pipes. Right. I mean, let me tell you, our guys were just out there. Because they had time on their hands. COVID locked them down. So they were very creative in that. But there's something that's coming up, Mr. Constantine, in the question of the school feeding program. Yes. I was thinking about that. Okay, so for the school feeding program, the government has provided support over the years to the school feeding program. And that's something that will continue. We are hoping that our youngsters could get back to school safely in the coming school year. There has been a lot of training being done within this period now. Certifications and now there's some university courses going on. There's a number of things going on to strengthen the school feeding program. The school feeding program, we've always seen as a market for our farmers because they do use a lot of produce in the school feeding program. And so it's one of the areas that we're providing a lot of support to. Some of that work falls directly on Mr. Jabaziz. But we at corporate planning also gave a lot of support to the school feeding program. Kudos to the Ministry of Education to continue their continued hard work. And also the Ministry of Education has taken a more collaborative team approach. So in a lot of the things that are happening under the school feeding program, now the Ministry of Agriculture has a say. We get a chance to contribute and to share a lot more. And so kudos to the Ministry of Education. Definitely. As we're about to wind down, I, can you tell St. Lucian's again and the farmers out there about the importance of the farmer registration program? All right. The farmer registration program, and I'm sure by now most farmers are quickly aware of its value during COVID-19 and lockdown. And when we had those border controls, those persons who did register were able to use those registration to get across. But even more importantly, than navigating during this time, what we're currently doing is what we call registration. So most persons who go to a field officer right now get the information and they will get an ID card. For persons who receive those ID cards in the last couple of years, who have not done the training, it is only a registration card. During this time, we would like the farmer to go back to their farms and implement certain standards. Adeline mentioned some training a little while ago. Some of these people who are not received that training in pesticide use and safety, good agricultural practices, we went ahead and we did a couple cohorts of training and there is a little, there's some more training coming up with that is concerns. The importance of that registration and later on certification because we have still been struggling with Euro standards as to how we're going to do the audit. It is important for us now to go into those farms. They are certain basic requirement, portable water, pesticide disposal, pellets, the restrooms and so on. Signage and that sort of stuff. We want to go back out there as part of stepping up the whole because what's the point of having a park house as international, up to international standards when the process, keep in mind part of the story for the seven crops is to deal with the process, the value chain, what we call the value chain. And so this certification essentially is looking at the entire process from what the farmer is doing on the holding and all of that and to give the consumer a piece of mind that what they're consuming has gone through a process that is safe, that is fair. And we want our farmers to really work with us without his concern. Now it's a big challenge for a certain ministry because it requires a lot of time in terms of sharing and we also for the required time in terms of the assessment of the farmers. We encourage farmers, if you are serious about this business to connect with your field officer and take the necessary steps to ascertain that you are. As we're about to end, we're very close to ending. Moving forward, post COVID, I'm sure quickly, what was the strategy? The strategy is to continue to assist the farmers. The farmers have demonstrated the ability to produce in normal times and in pandemic times, right? So we will continue to support them and to give them all of the necessary tools that they need, capacity building, inputs, seedlings, whatever they need will help them to get that. So they continue meeting the market needs and to also ensure food security for us. Sell the new entity, the new marketing entity. Sell it in half a minute. In half a minute, well, farmers, if you sell to the new entity, we ensure that you are going to be paid in a timely fashion and there will always be space for you at that new entity. Because I think you'll have a new manager right now. Yes, a new manager. So there's a new structure, the new, well, not new, but restructured staff, if you may, for me, call it that way. Mr. CEO, final words from you? Final words, we've been through a storm and we do not know what storms are ahead. So again, farmers, be reminded that this is hurricane season. Let's do the necessaries. We do not have insurances, so we need to ensure that we take the necessary steps to prepare for it. We've fed very well, exceptionally well, during COVID-19, all things considered, but let us remain vigilant in terms of our scheduling, in terms of our production practices, in terms of pest and disease management and giving consumers a peace of mind that the produce that we are offering them is of a high quality and it is safe for consumers. Do you want to give any kudos to your staff? Well, definitely. I'd like to say thanks to everybody who has been working so diligently on this project, the Taiwanese Technical Mission, of course, the Ministry of Agriculture and all the different departments, such as engineering, marketing, extension, research and communication as well. So we'd like to say thanks to the entire ministry and also to our farming population out there for supporting us as we continue to support them. Thank you. So, Mr. Kamil, thank you very much. Mr. Sibati, the CEO. Of course, Mr. Adlin, thank you very much. And of course, Mr. Konstantin, thank you very much. The team agriculture is looking forward for a successful post-COVID activity. Thank you very much. You've been watching Agriculture on the Move. Thank you for viewing the program and continue to view the program regularly because we have enough information for you. But before I end, I want you to remember our bi-local campaign. We are in conjunction with the Ministry of Commerce in that fight. And we want you to remember, love St. Lucia, say so, no, but our tagline, Eat Fresh, St. Lucia's Best. I'm Philip Sidney. Goodbye. Yes, sir.