 Agriculture on the move! Agriculture on the move! Agriculture on the move! Agriculture on the move! Agriculture on the move! Hello, Gail St. Lucia, and welcome to the programmeuous Agriculture on the move. I am Filim Sidney your host. Today we are talking bananas. And of course, our Banana Expo 2022. But before we delve in the program, just let me give you a little background to where we are. Santa Mago, the prime minister, made a statement that when the bananas, all what he was saying is to encourage St. Lucia and St. Lucians to eat more of what we produce. And bananas were, he emphasized bananas at the time because we are exporting bananas to the UK and originally. But then I don't think we are using our bananas in St. Lucia that we ought to. So that is why after that statement was made, the Anken Church during Independence took it on to organize a banana festival under the coordination of Mr. David Jordan. And they did a fantastic job in that exhibition that they produced. This, the ministry then decided to take it to the next level. And we're looking at the culinary aspect of bananas. So the theme for our expo is Figgler See Sanu Tut, the culinary experience. And with me today are three young ladies who are participants at that Banana Expo 2022. I will allow them to introduce themselves and to my immediate right. Hello, my name is Avi Daniel. I am 19 years old. I am a culinary arts student in Yethu at the Saffa Lewis Community College. I am the owner of Golden Treats, a very small business in Castries, St. Lucia. Beautiful. I'm Moana Octav, a member of the Jaco Valley products of Fosse Jacques Souffre. I do marketing and sales and also accounting for the company. OK, the Jaco Valley House. OK, Miriam Henville. I'm an employee of the government of St. Lucia, Ministry of Education. I'm the coordinator of the student welfare programs, which entails the book bus program and the school feeding program. Welcome, ladies, to the program. I mean, I'll start with you, since you're the youngest. What had you to get into this business, this question of your little entrepreneur and then you identified this as a business? Why and how you got into it? Well, it's been my passion from a little girl. Every day after school, I would come home and watch my favorite television show on Food Network, which was Rachel Ray. I loved Rachel Ray with my heart. She was like one of my idols. And growing up, it's become more prominent that I would love to bake. I would love to cook. I would love to be in anything that deals with food. So food has just become one of the main things in my life. It's something that I can bring my passion out in. And I know that even if I don't become, let's say, executive pastry chef or executive chef in just five-star insurance or even in a hotel, I know that at the end of the day, that's my passion. That's what I want to do with my life. Wow. Very good, very good. I can feel the passion emanating from you. Tell us about you, Giovanni, and your group in the Jacques. OK, we have been in existence from 2016. We deal with local products, more fruits, and we do dry seasonings also. So we get to farmers who have products that are just wasting because of not going on the shelf. It does not meet the criteria to go on a shelf. So we meet with those farmers to get those fruits, and we do fruit pops, we do dried herbs, and we do tea bags also. Wow. And a ray of stuff, eh? Yes. Miriam, what's from the school standpoints? OK, from the school's point, we have the school feeding program, which has been in existence for over 30 years. It caters for students who are needy in terms of they are unable to pay the $1 to get the meal. And also, it serves as a convenience for some working parents who do not have the time to prepare a meal for that child. It is at 95% of the schools, the infant, primary, and second special ed schools throughout the island. We even have two of the seven-day Adventist schools on board. So there's no discrimination with regards to who eats, whether it's a public school or a privately owned. There's also a pilot program at five secondary schools. However, other secondary schools benefit from that program. But the main aim is to try to feed the students. And we encourage a lot of the local produce to be incorporated in that program. And COVID has shown us that we have to go back to what we produce, eat what we grow. So they're ties in with what you are promoting, the fig glasses and toots. So we have had, for the past seven weeks, we had a Mexico FAO sponsored training for cooks where they were taught how to use more of the local produce in the school feeding program. So cut back on the chow mein, the pasta, the flour, the rice, and introduce to our students the local foods. Wow, very good, very good. The cooks were excited during that training, feedback. Most of them have started introducing the meals, the recipes that were taught. The principals are more excited. And people from out of St. Lucia who have seen the photos of what was produced, they are all excited and want to come and eat on our program if that's how we are moving the school feeding program. So school feeding program is making strides in the positive direction. And we have students who are interested in participating in the banana expo. Great. And the thing is, I've always said government cannot employ everybody. It's impossible. But if you have an idea, and I think that's where this government is going, is to encourage people with skills so that they can develop their skills, right? And that is why in the ministry, our tagline is to eat fresh St. Lucia's best. Do you think that enough St. Lucia, enough young people are gravitating in that direction? Anybody can answer? And Abi? Well, in my opinion, not all. Some of them just don't want to. Some of them, they're like, they don't care about that. Some of them really want to, but some of them don't have the, how can I say? They don't have the access to the equipment they need to get to do those things. All right, yeah. So I suppose even if government creates, but government have to come in and create an enabling environment in terms of safe funding. That's another area I think that is required. So that's at least, if you have an idea, you can take, you should know where you can take it to and for you to develop that idea and get it funded. What do you think? That's what is experienced with most of the young, budding entrepreneurs. They want to start off a business, but since they are fresh out of school, there is not that financial package available to them. Is either you face the bank, take a loan, but how are you going to pay back if you do not have a job as yet? So there should be that environment or that grant access to tap into. So you can start your business, give you a footing, give you a first food forward so that you can develop. And thereafter, when the business has been established, you pick up from there. Yeah, well, I think you need seed money. You need somewhere to start. And if I know SLDB is there, I'm hoping that the government will look into it. I think there's something called the blue economy. I don't know if that is an area that will cater for young entrepreneur like you, like you who would want to get into that activity. And the other thing too, the impact it would have on our health too, because I think it's better for us to utilize what we grow. And then if that happens, then it will, our food import bill will be reduced and that's another thing too. Because in the ministry, we have a program which was the seven crop program and it worked very well. It created a dent of 30%, right, within one year. So five of those crops, we were able to reduce the food import bill, you know? And so I'm thinking again, a lot of those produce then value added can be done, you know, and to get to the next level. But Abby, what you do, tell us exactly what are the products that you do and where do you market those products? Okay, so I make cakes, whole cakes, cheesecakes, cinnamon rolls, donuts, brownies, and banana bread. I market those products at school in my mother's office, in town, and also on Instagram and on different social media, like Instagram and WhatsApp, because these are the two platforms that I use. Okay, great. So what's about Jaco Valley? Okay, we have about 30 different flavors of fruit pop, including about five, which includes banana in it. We also have the dried herbs and wet herbs, and we do chocolate, but we incorporate it in our fruit pops, and we also deal with teabags. We have about 26 flavors of teabags. Where do you market? We market at the schools and little shops in the area. We're looking to go out more with more advertising marketing, then we're looking to go on the shelves, the supermarket shelves soon. Okay, so you love going through all the grading and the evaluation, so your labels and everything? Yes, we have labels and everything, yes. Okay, from the school standpoint, one of the things I'm hoping, and I told the minister this, to include a ripe banana in the school feeding program. Are you all thinking of this? We have given thought it has been brought up to top management. I am awaiting feedback as to when do we implement? Local food tastes so much better than imported. When you delve into a ripe banana, this is so satisfying. So we are hoping that it will be introduced, revenue permitting, finances permitting, that it will be introduced throughout the schools island wide, and that it becomes a practice, a habit so that the children not only eat it at that school, but it is carried into the home as well. So when the parents go shopping, the first thing they would pull up is a hand of ripe banana. So if it is instituted from the school's end, we're hoping that the students will carry along and introduce it to their home. But do you think the parents eating ripe bananas at their homes? Well, I would hope so, because it is what we grow. You walk all around St. Lucia, you drive all around bananas catch your eye. So growing up, we used to go beneath the banana plantation and nothing tasted better than a tactile banana. That's true. So if you had that experience as a child, I know you would say that I ate too much, but we have to bring it down to our children. It's not all about the grapes, the apples, the pears. We have much better quality local fresh fruits here that the students need to be introduced to. The children need to be introduced to. And this would cut down on their expenses as well. You go to the supermarket now, a pair is whatever price compared to a hand of bananas. So parents now have to choose wisely. If they need our economy to grow, we have to choose local instead of foreign. You may want foreign once or twice a year or month, but at least support our local folks to have that revenue, the finances, back in our economy circulating. I agree. And the thing is, I think kids have this upper hand on the parents when they get in the supermarket. They want grapes, they want apples, and they will never say no, take a banana instead. Anyway, we do for our break. Stay tuned, we'll be back soon. I say, sarnutututu. Welcome back to the program, Agriculture on the Move. I won't bite my tongue this time. Of course, we're here talking bananas, and of course we're talking about our banana expo, 2022. The theme, figs, sarnutututu, as you heard, the jingle during the break. You're not participating in the banana expo. Are you excited? Come on, Abhi, tell me something. What are you bringing into the form? Well, like you said, everything is bananas. Definitely. So, for me, with my little experience that I got from the school, at Sa'afa, we have the main kitchen and we have a pastry kitchen. We have two executive chefs and a pastry chef. All right. So, with the experience that I've got from in the pastry with the pastry chef, I can put some of my experience into what I will be doing. For sure, I will be making banana breads. I will be making different types of banana breads. Some will have chocolate. Some will have oats. Some will have raisins. I'm also making a banana cake. Also, a banana cream tart. Oh, wow. I'm salivating already. You don't give out all your secrets. I don't give out all your secrets. So, these are some of them. Some of them that I know, like if you go on Google, you'll find it. These are some things that you will find that everybody can make at home with little ingredients, banana bread. You can use the right banana or you can use ripe plantain in it. So, these are some of the different things. Wow. So, boys, are we looking forward to it? It will taste better because it's from Abbey. Yeah, man, it's golden treats. You know what I mean? It's really golden. So, tell us about the Jacques. What are you all doing? Okay, we'll be having banana pops. We have our famous Tambam. Tambam, boy. I love that one, boy. Tamarind and banana. That's the bomb. Yes, we'll be having banana and raspberry pops. We'll be having banana and lime pops. We'll be having banana flour. We'll be getting a sample of the banana flour with fish cakes. And we're now experimenting on banana wine. So, if all goes well, we'll have that also. The banana wine. That is great. Good things to come. Looking forward to it. The schools. Well, the schools are excited. A number of schools are on board. They are scattered throughout St. Lucia. It is not concentrated in castries, but throughout St. Lucia. Based on the recipes which have been submitted, I cannot disclose their recipes, but it looks interesting and something that we St. Lucia should go out and support the schools. They are birding artists. Who knows? That might be the next top chef in there. But they need your support. We need to go out there and sample what they make. Give feedback and encourage us, encourage the schools to use the local produce. But so far, a number of schools, I have about 20 schools, primary and secondary schools on the program. And they are rewarded for participating. It's not just coming in and exhibit, but you are rewarded with tokens from the ministry. Wow, interesting, interesting. There's something that's worrisome to me. In other words, what do we do and take it to the next level? There was, we had an exhibition I coordinated at 2019 on the playing field as a World Food Day. And a health student came up with sweet potato ice cream. Let me tell you, when I tasted this thing, I was like, wow. And everyone kept looking at one another, because I mean, what's that? Sweet potato ice cream. But the next thing is, okay, where do we go with that ice cream? Again, they need the avenue to move from this step of creation. So if it has to be marketed, they are still at school, they are not employed. Or what assistance can they get to market that program? It could be out in America or England for sale, but without the finances and the support, they will not move forward. Maybe Expo St. Lucia can tap in and help them market that product. Yeah, because you also need to patent this thing too. Because I was thinking of taking it to a business place, but at the end of the day, I'm frightened that the ticket, the ticket for days, you know? So how did that child get compensated for such a wonderful product? I really don't know. But this is a discussion we need to have to ensure that, you know, to encourage young people. At the school level, the children are very creative, but it's sad that they do not get the avenue to further develop that product, to market it, to make it on a wider scale. It is there, they try it out at school. Yes, everybody's sample, it's a hit, but what happens, what do we do with them? These are ideas that we can use and market, which would cut down on our import bill, cut down on all these foreign goods that we are bringing in. See that our students have the capacity, they have the ability, and let's nurture it. Instead of just leaving them there at the secondary school, that's it, and what do I do with my life from then? So instead of having them go on the wrong side, they have started that product. Let's continue so that we can keep them on the right track. Is that something that the kids can take back to their community, and they can continue to produce and sell within their own local? If they have the support agency, yes. Remember some students, they have family who can support them. Others, they do not have that support. So my idea, it remains there. And how can they move forward? We need to provide that assistance today. Yeah. The other thing is, at the schools, one of the things I remember, we had a Kosovo program with them, and they had so many different menus. And the sad thing, I was unable to capture that in a recipe book form. I am hoping that this time around, the Ministry of Education will be able to capture the recipes coming from this expo. What are your thoughts? This we can push for, because the students and the teachers went, they did development stages to get to the end product. And it would be a shame on our part to just leave it as that. If we notice that that product is able to move forward marketable, let's encourage them. Let's encourage a child, the school, to move that product from just that stage on that constitution pack. Let's move it forward. We have a lot of experimental products, and it's just sitting there. Somebody from overseas or foreign can just come and take it, and then it becomes theirs. But it was developed here, and that person does not get to see the full potential or realize the full potential. Yes. I just want to mention that the expo is going to be on the 6th of May in the constitution pack in castries. There are so many activities going to happen at such a 10 o'clock, and it's going to end at 6 o'clock in the evening. During that expo, as you have heard, there will be so many derivatives from bananas, especially coming from the agro-processors. The number of people are going to be there. The schools are going to be there. There's going to be entertainment. There will be banana eating competition, ripe banana eating competition. And as you could see, I have in my hand here a gentleman who somewhere in the 60s, he was able to champion the eating of a bunch of ripe bananas, and that made the Guinness Book of Records. I would love to have some more info on this gentleman. I know his name was Joshua McCombie, and he was from New Village. He's in the States now. So those of you probably who know him and can contact him, please, I would like some contact number for him. So first to recognize this gentleman, but I think he puts in Lucia on the map. So we're hoping to have this competition. So we're hoping to have people who can eat the most bananas. We're hoping to see whether they can eat the most bananas within one minute, and also the most bananas within that minute without holding the banana. And for those of you ladies with your long fingernails, we want to find out how fast you can peel a green banana. That actually helps. It helps, right? So it's going to be exciting. I'm sure you're looking forward to it. Final words from you quickly. Are you looking forward to the activity? Yes, I am. I'm looking forward to it because this is how I can actually push myself more and to get more experience when it comes to serving and getting customer feedback just from everybody in the public. You know, it'll be a learning experience, but it'll also be a social experiment because me, I'm the type of person. I will not go out and sell my product, more like be like interactive with my customers because me, I'm a very timid person. Adora, you'll get stronger when you get there. Final words from you quickly. Just inviting everybody to come and sample all our banana products. Great. Well, thank you all for coming. I'm going to go out and support those who are here. I'm going to eat, I'm going to drink, I'm going to buy. Good. All right. Thank you. Thank you all for coming. Thank you for viewing the program. I want to thank you all, ladies, for being here. And I'm sure you'll put your best food forward. Thank you again, viewers. I'm Philippe Sidney. Say goodbye. And just remember, agriculture is our business. And eat fresh. So do just best. Bye. Thank you very much.