 Hello, and welcome to another exciting episode of Stepping Up. I'm your host, Daniel Dubois. This week, we explore the world of CMOS cultivation in St. Lucia. CMOS farmers have remained resilient despite battling adverse weather conditions and continue to supply the US and UK markets with exports on a near weekly basis, helping to boost economic activity along the island's coastlines. Export St. Lucia has been paramount in securing these new markets for farmers and since 2019, we have seen over 100 new farmers join the movement. Cohen Samuel is the owner of Total Health Foods and Services Limited and is currently the Interim Chairman for the CMOS Farmers Group in Opeco and he takes me on the tour of the CMOS Farm in Savins Bay, teaching me everything I need to know about CMOS cultivation. Let's take a look. Hey guys, so we are out at sea and I'm here with Mr. Cohen Samuel and he is the head of leading the charge on the CMOS Association for Farmers, bringing all farmers together. And if you can see the backdrop, I am surrounded by CMOS cultivation and it's like nothing that I've ever seen before and we're out to actually see what it's like and then a little later, we're actually going to be going in the water to see how it's cultivated. So let me introduce my guest, Mr. Cohen. Cohen Samuel, thank you so much for joining us and let us know what we're seeing right now. Actually what you're seeing is CMOS farmers and the plot of CMOS. All the sticks that we are seeing in the sea there, it is CMOS being planted on rope in this area. In this area, we should have close to 60 to 70 CMOS farmers planting in Savins Bay. So this is where most of the CMOS have been planted and across Boray's beach as well. I realize you said that you have about 60 to 70 farmers sharing the space, but let us know a little bit more about the history of Savins Bay and this Bay to be specific and speak to the issues with the seabed and what CMOS farmers have to go through to be able to get space to cultivate. Actually in this area a few years ago we just had about probably 20 farmers, but in 2020 because of the demand of CMOS on the market overseas, the increase of farmers in this area is tremendous. Actually this is why in all we have over 100 farmers planting CMOS between Savins Bay to Boray beach. But especially at Savins Bay we have close to 60 to 70 farmers occupying hair. There are some farmers that are not part of the group but they still occupy this area. Actually where we are presently is a little shallow. Some of the areas are deeper than here and as you can see there are a few farmers in the sea either harvesting CMOS or planting CMOS. The biggest problem we have in the area is a lot of people who do not farm CMOS come and die for CMOS hair. Actually it's been broken from the roof sometimes because of the current and this is an issue for the farmers because as you can see the farmers are in the water and the sun is pretty hot. They spend about 6 hours in the water every day planting CMOS and sometimes because of the rough sea or the strong current some of the CMOS would break off the roof and it would be in the in the sea itself traveling and you have people that are not planting CMOS coming and collected to sell to exporters and this is an issue for us. This is one of the issue here presently in this area where you have divers coming here and die for CMOS all among the CMOS farms when the farmers are not here. And we do not know all we are seeing some of these farms are missing CMOS and we know is either it's broken or they harvest the CMOS on the farmers, yes taking place hair and burai where we saw the bleaching taking place every night the CMOS have been stolen there every night. We're trying to see what measures we can put in place to protect the farmers and the CMOS because we do not have a place yet to bleach our CMOS properly where it is fenced and where we have security guard. So right now the farmers are trying their best to to increase the production of CMOS in in the viewport area especially in this area and to make CMOS what it ought to be because we believe that St. Lucia can be seen and we can export the best quality of CMOS out of this small Caribbean island. If you look around me it's so expansive like there's a bay and a little bit out to the ocean as well. How many other sites in St. Lucia look like this? I do not know how many sites look like Savins Bay. I have not been to the west coast of the island but I think one of the areas that look similar like this is Poale. Poale there is what you call the Poale CMOS association as the other group in the eastern side of here in viewport. For here we have the CMOS farmers group here hoping to be an association soon and this is where we are focusing and I think both of the areas both for Poale and this area we are experiencing the same problem that we face. It is one of the things that we have cried that we have gone and unused to talk about it because actually I believe if CMOS farm is taking place in an area it should be protected by law. Those people are taking the CMOS on one in the morning when people are sleeping, vehicles are passing and they are seeing people with bags of CMOS and we know it is not on the shore that they are actually taking the CMOS because when we come to the farm some of the lines are empty and we know that somebody took the CMOS. You also said that forming the association will help you guys come together to be able to lobby and to ensure that these type of these things are placed in law to be able to protect you and I am sure the association themselves can come together to help and find ways to increase security around in terms of preventing things like predial arsenic. Actually we are working on this presently as the president of the group I did take action with retired police officer coming and patrol the shore area both Borai on that side but every time we have a few hours in the night nobody seems to be coming at that time. So the guys may be hiding among the trees that we don't know and they wait when we live to do what they do. Stop stealing the people CMOS because you know let's stop it. Let's talk about cultivation right cultivation before we go into it. What about is it is there because we're close to a mangrove does that is that the best place to plant CMOS is there anything about the topography or the geography of the place that basically provides like the best space to plant CMOS. So let's talk about the space and then we'll go into it. Probably the mangrove in this area it's it gives the area healthy. Also the population of the fish the pot fish in this area is increasing tremendously together with the lobster because anytime we come to the farm to harvest among the CMOS always have a lot of lobsters small one. So but this area as you can see it's a shallow area there is a lot of area here you can walk from way down up to this area we can actually walk in the sea. So it's a good place to plant CMOS in that particular area. The deep areas like deep sea planting is on the other side. You have so the St. Louis metal works where the guys doing the windows actually do deep sea planting on the other side of the island they are deep. But most of our farmers are not swimmers especially the ladies so we look for the shallow area for most of them to plant. But we have seen with Savins Bay area CMOS grows faster here whereas Borai it takes six weeks it takes about three weeks here. So the farmers have to cut sticks. Some farmers gone cut sticks and carried some by the sticks at five dollars per stick. The sticks are normally cut about six to eight feet tall. We try to make sure it goes in the seabed at least four feet so it can stay there. The sticks will last about four years in the water. So then they prepare their rope with their twine all these as you can see these farmers are actually planting CMOS. So it would be a good place to start when we are about to show you how they do the planting of CMOS and these farmers over there by the boat is actually cultivating CMOS. So we might yeah so we will have to go on that side to see how they do it. But for this side here this is farmers actually planting from the main rope with the twine. Hey guys y'all can give us a wave. So what you see in there to prepare the sticks and the rope will take about four weeks four to five weeks but actually when it starts growing in three weeks time you can start harvesting the CMOS. This is how fast it is in this area. It is not so fast as borai. Borai will take about six weeks before we can harvest but it is rough by borai because of the strong current down there so sometimes you plant and then you have to continue replanting that same rope because they keep breaking off and they go in. We have to try to make sure that we give space for the fishy men with the boats access where they pass in because they use the bay here before us so we are meeting with them to see how best we can solve the situation and make sure there are proper access in the area. No my farm is by the boat that's why they are doing harvesting here is where we plant so since they are planting here we can actually go and I will actually explain the process of the planting and then for harvest we will go down this way. So I jumped into the water and it's extremely shallow there's a lot of seagrass underneath my feet right now a little uncomfortable about it but we're here to learn and understand and I'm here with Mr. Cuffbert and he told me that he only just started cultivating CMOS almost only six months so let us know about how has that been so far. Well it's been going good for me so far because in spite of the shortness of time I've been able to do a little harvest and your market is a local market or is it are you exporting as yet or what is like I'm not an exporter I sell to Mr. Samuel who does the exporting on your behalf yeah all right so today you're cultivating CMOS and I want to learn so I see you have twine and you have what is this this is this is the plant okay the seedling okay sorry go ahead this is the seedling yeah well you must know where to break it and how to tie it on the twine because you see like on this one here this here so you have to tie it somewhere in between so that um the waves will not rip it off the twine as it and is it one and one or is it oh you just tying it to the rope here yeah to that twine here yes and how many of these do you plant across the line oh well it takes about 50 of them yeah so when you're done how long how big is your plot here and when you when you when you when you harvesting how much do you plan to harvest oh well last time I harvested 11 bags and just recently I had only two ropes I harvested four bags from the two ropes so you're slowly getting bigger yeah which is which is very good for me yeah yeah I want to learn I don't mind tying a seedling onto the rope here and I'm going to hand over my mic to our production assistant and we're going to see how we cultivate CMOS this we call the seedling now this is the professor right here he taught me how to do it actually he was the one who encouraged me into CMOS farming yes so now I greatly enjoy it so you're testing his skills right now yeah he's testing it all right so all right if I tied right here it may hold depending on the wave but I think here is a better place to tie it because you can see a growth here and one over here and you tie it um you do a slip knot am I right a slip knot yeah you have to watch it okay pass it on the back there you're watching me okay go across like this then into this eh you call it a slip knot okay okay so that if you have a sting you may not repeat off completely you may clip but if in the event that it goes with the waves then you just the slip knot you would just pull that end and the twine is good yeah um good for planting okay so you don't have a knot to one tie all right I'm ready to get the seedlings from you call that a Nehali and Nehali and Nehidi yes that's right and Nehidi he probably he probably ties cows and stuff like this so he would know the Nehali no I'm asking you where you get the seedlings from oh well I got I got this from my roots I got these seedlings from my roots yeah from your roots yeah from my roots from the main room okay okay so every time you have it you get new seedlings yes or you have what opportunity you will get it from your room because actually well actually what is happening this is what they get floating it probably breaks right so this would give you about six plants right because you don't need to plant it so big like you are showing you can plant it yeah to you yeah so this little piece here will actually give you about six plants okay so hold on to a plant so you can do the practice the practical so I need to put down yeah so I'm doing a slit knot yeah Nehali now you should tie a little closer to the main rope okay so that it doesn't have too much leverage okay the more it moves the greater the chances of the wheels are ripping it off is it like this and tie it around so no no okay hold on to this all right you go like this you hold okay you hold it you know can't I have the tip of my finger you just hold it there pass it behind this one okay yeah go behind this one then make a round and then come back okay so oh so it's like hanging and then you tighten yeah okay let me try yeah you can tighten between here okay in between yeah right let's see I can learn what the teacher taught me so you go around pass it around then you turn and you come back in here yeah all right and then you pull no no okay yeah just try to keep this one straight okay okay so you can easily go behind it on top here then you see that yeah and then into it right here oh you have to go all around yeah not necessarily all around you tie right here here yeah all right so I'm putting my finger here right here okay so keep it straight put the rope in in in the seedling before you all right you have it yeah that's it that's it nice so you see thank you so much and this has to go about 50 times right and you see it has about 50 when I was learning I took just probably even more time than you did yeah so but now I'm getting there I'm not as good as some farmers are but I'm trying yeah and it's interesting that um you say that he's the one who made you start because we we interviewed him before and he spoke about getting more farmers and more persons involved so how do you feel about being able to start CMOS just because somebody encouraged you and why is it that you have to tell to other young persons as or people in general about CMOS problem cultivation okay well when he pushed um encouraged me I didn't take him on I said my I probably won't have the time I would not be able to do that but when I got started I thought it was I thought I had started a bit too late yeah but now I'm really enjoying it and I'm in the water almost every day um planting CMOS and I also encourage other as many young persons who probably may not have a job right now get into the CMOS farming it's very it's very productive and profitable profitable yeah yeah he gives me good money for my CMOS this is already good for harvest okay because of where the twine is here you want to harvest out of it to live to continue growing so in three weeks time you will have this thing getting huge again so you you have to cut it somewhere that the twine will not slip or the the CMOS will not slip out of the twine all right so that would be a good place to cut it right there yeah and how you cut it with your fingers yeah with your fingers you know right that is it so you do that part then you cut you watch where your twine is right the twine is right so you cut down here right you do the same thing below right and below right and you can cut this one here yeah so you leave that one to grow you do the same thing over here you see what you leave all the way you that's how we started yeah all the way you cut here will grow nice this is so easy right and cut this one here not so easy and that's it that's good already ready another one the same way I think you get it already yeah so you're ready for planting some CMOS the miracle plant look forward to Daniel plant CMOS grow CMOS St Lucia grow CMOS this is the industry of the future yes it is easy it is quick to start you have a lot of support we already know that he's given us our all the information to join the association and it's a very sustainable plant and it's something I think anybody who is looking for something new to start into explore CMOS that's right explore CMOS so there you have it guys and this is the first half of our show we're going to be going back um and focusing on Mr Cohen and he's going to show us about what happens after the CMOS is cultivated harvest then and what's the process like what the process would be like when you're going into processing for export and for sale so we'll be right back COVID-19 is a new pandemic disease as declared by the world health organization it is transmitted directly by respiratory droplets when an affected person coughs or sneezes or indirectly through rubbing the face with contaminated hands there is still no specific treatment or vaccine against COVID-19 and as such the farming community should adhere to some special recommendations limit the number of crew members to only essential persons practice frequent hand washing and cleaning of all boat surfaces limit contact with the public keeping a safe distance between each person limit unnecessary conversation with customers and pairs during the sale of fish wash hands frequently with soap and running water or use 60 to 95 percent alcohol based hand sanitizer until water and soap are available sneeze and cough in a flexed elbow or into a tissue immediately discarding the use tissue into a bin and wash hands with soap and water or use an alcohol based hand sanitizer until soap and water is available and avoid close contact with persons having respiratory symptoms more than ever before your important role as gatekeepers of st. Lucia's nutritional health and food security should be taken seriously when you exercise these precautions you not only safeguard your health but also continue to allow all st. Lucia's access to freshly caught fish and other seafood remember it is our responsibility to ensure our nation eats fresh st. Lucia's best welcome back planting seamos is not an easy feat and i'm so grateful to co-in and the other farmer who we just happened to meet while we were filming for the show i'm so grateful for the opportunity to see and experience firsthand what farmers have to do to get their product on the market kudos to all seamos farmers and thank you so much for stepping up in the next segment we look at the process after the seamos has been harvested and continue to learn about the seamos trail from the ocean to the boxes for export co-in once again shows me how it's done so once the seamos is bleached dried this is how it's collected in bazaar crocus bags they wash the bags properly so let us know what she's doing right now actually what she's doing is to select and clean the seamos at the same time normally the farmers would do a little cleaning but we don't depend only on that because of the quality we want to export out of st. Lucia we bring it here and she's the one selecting now as you can see i'm holding the seamos this is from a farmer you would see it is clean from the farmer but actually you can see a piece of the seaweed stuck to it so she would actually take them out on the table this is those that's not good for export some of them may have that or they may have a little black a little black mack like this one this is black we don't export this for human consumption actually people use it for salad when you put it to soak you will see black mack on it so it's not the best for exporting for people who use it for salad right so she would do all the selecting and after she's done with that it's a lot of work for her we box them how long does this process take most likely for the day she would do like a hundred to a hundred twenty to a hundred and fifty pound of this seamos been clean every day my next question is for her how does it feel going through this don't you get tired i know i i doesn't it feels good it keeps me energized i laugh with it sometimes i cry because some of them does be so dirty but it's good does it does it um like does your hand get your fingers get tired because it's kind of hard and it's caused when it's dry yes my fingers get numb but i go through i get through the pain and how long do you think that will like they say how long would you do this it's one day or over cost of two or three days one day one day she's a boss so let's go to the packaging of the boxes now after the young ladies done with the cleaning and selecting of the seamos she would now package the seamos so we use a clear bag we place that bag in the box and then we place the clean seamos in that box what's the purpose of the plastic bag i think it is it is more professional putting it in a plastic bag in the box than dropping it in the box because um depends where the box goes from here something may slip between the crack yeah so it's it's better in the bag so we fill the bag properly after we've um we've a clay strap we actually strap the bag properly and then we fill the boxes we wait um she would actually wait here to make sure that it has at least 16 pounds she's helping me yes so actually this one have more than 16 pounds so the box an empty box is already 1.30 pounds so first we get 60 pounds we actually have to take the weight of the box out and then take a few branches out of this to make sure it is 16 pounds so it has to be exactly 16 16 including the weight of the box is that just for transporting um when you sell in seamos we sell seamos by pounds okay so if you want to just put 16 pounds in this box without weighing the box itself the one who buys the seamos from you will actually get 15 pounds and not 16 because when they pull the bag out you have a box that already weigh in 1.30 okay yes so when we export it we make sure that um we tell them the box contains 16 pounds so we have some of these boxes at 16 and these here at 20 um these boxes are still already this will be labeled um on tuesday morning ready to export to the us market since 2020 we have seen a big um um demand for seamos especially in san clutia and i will continue to mention export san clutia because they were the one who went and market that seamos and um using total health foods to to to send us first batch of seamos to the uk which that opened up the whole market in the uk um the demand is so high for seamos especially in san clutia because anybody that gets the grade a seamos that we export will testify that they have not seen a seamos like this nice yes um so in terms of transport you go through viewports dock or do you go from cast streams actually we use we we do not use seafrit we use a freight for the seamos out of viewport airport for the us market um my company use american airline actually we have an account with them so i just call and do the booking for the seamos and take the seamos to to hacks the cargo shed in viewport where they would just prepare it for export welcome in thank you so much for chatting with us i really do hope that we finally jumped on board the train for seamos and it seems like it was something on the ground that has been developing so we're really excited about zoning into you guys and let's let us know how we can contact you anybody who wants to join the association who may be interested in wanting to plant seamos so just give us your contact information and the process yes for for planting seamos um they have to contact fisheries the fisheries department um thomas nelson at fisheries they are the one in charge of the seamos um surf in st. glucia and if they want to contact me um the president of the group in the in opico they can do so by 519-4254 this episode was jump active information and i hope we as a country can gain an appreciation for the hard work that goes into the cultivation and exportation of seamos as you heard contact the fisheries department for more information on how you can get started with your own seamos business thank you guys so much for tuning in once again and don't forget to email me at stepping up 758 at gmail.com if you want to be featured on the show i'm your host daniel dubois until next time don't forget to keep stepping up