 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am General Norvel, this edition, Stop Stories. Government rolls out a $10 million assistance package to victims of Hurricane Elfer. The Department of Agriculture launches new web portal as part of rebounding efforts. And the Castries Constituencies Council has secured a temporary relocation for vendors. The Cabinet of Ministers has reviewed the report on the preliminary damage assessment following Hurricane Elfer and has approved an emergency assistance package to provide immediate relief to the various sectors affected. The agriculture industry was most impacted with banana and plantain farmers sustaining heavy losses. Crop loss is estimated at some $34 million. 500 homes were damaged with 50 completely destroyed. The CDC buildings in Castries were also impacted. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chastney at a news conference Friday 9 July informed that the government was realigning funds from the budget to provide assistance and had also applied to the National Economic Fund to finance the relief package. $10 million has been received. $5 million will go towards agriculture. $3 million allocated to the Ministry of Equity which will be dispersed through the SSDF. $1 million for repairs to the CDC buildings and $1 million for road repairs and cleanup. The CIP program, the first couple of years the monies were going into the consolidated fund and it's important to know that once it went into the consolidated fund there was a proper record and accounting of how those monies were used. Now that it's going into a separate fund and it's being managed by a separate board and there is clear rules as to what we can use the monies for or apply the monies to. It's not everything that government would like to do that the fund can provide assistance to. So one of the first initiatives that we had was the problem that we were having with Winfresh when Winfresh was collapsing and funds were lent to the Ministry of or to the Department of Invest in Lucia to assist in salvaging the assets of Winfresh and to keep the market open with Winfresh. And now those monies are being applied to the restructuring of the FTO. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Corporate is Honourable Ezekiel Joseph. In form that affected farmers will receive financial assistance for labour. This will target some 2,487 acres of farmland. Farmers will also receive free inputs for the LISAs, oil and fungicide. Minister Joseph indicated that farms with windbreaks were not severely impacted by the gusts from Hurricane Elsa and the Ministry will be expanding its resilience program across the sector. We have made an allocation for Billion Resilience to $47,000 and that will be to provide farmers with planting material, tree crops that they can plant along the boundaries to provide that safety net whenever we have been experiencing heavy winds. Our vegetable farmers got damaged too. Unfortunately, mostly it was the infrastructure. And the infrastructure we were going to have really got severely damaged were a number of greenhouses. The figures is showing that over 100 greenhouses got affected and we have agreed that to provide an allocation both to repair the greenhouse and to assist our vegetable farmers who are severely affected. Unfortunately, some of our livestock farmers got severely damaged. Well, not they got damaged, but the infrastructure got damaged as far as their buildings, their pens and in some cases some of them lost animals. And what we have agreed is to provide an allocation of $300,000 where we shall be providing support to our livestock farmers that experience damage during the passage of the storm. We think it's opportune because like we all know we are early in the hurricane season and whilst we did not realize heavy rainfalls but whatever we are doing, we think there is need for us to create an environment that we can see the free flow of water. And in that case, we are going to support our farmers, especially those in the low-lying areas and their heavy drainage areas. We are going to support them with drainage assistance. Our CMOS farmers got affected, our fishermen got affected, our fisher folks got affected and support will be given to them. In closing the area we are looking at seriously is the question of assisting those banana farmers who have not been paid for about eight weeks and an allocation has been made to pay them at least out of the eight weeks to pay for five weeks and the other three weeks will be paid when we, like you heard the Prime Minister spoke about, supporting restructuring the NFTO. So the balance of the outstanding payments will be made after we have restructured the NFTO and I can say here that even before the storm we had gotten an allocation of 4.2 million dollars through the support of the Honorable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to assist us in restructuring the NFTO. So that again is an allocation that will be used during the recovery period for our banana farmers. Meanwhile Minister for Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment Honorable Leonard Montute assured individuals whose homes will affected that government was moving swiftly to assist them. The 50 households that I mentioned that were completely damaged will provide assistance to the tune of up to $15,000 which will amount to some $750,000 to do the repairs that is needed and the estimated 450 households that suffered damage to their roofs will receive between a range of $1,500 to $7,500 and that will work out to be an estimated $2.25 million. And so I ask that our people out there who have suffered damage a few days already just be a little patient. We are rolling out this program as quickly as possible. We understand your plight. We recognize the need for the assistance and we did all that we could to receive the funding as soon as we can and we will waste no time in ensuring that we reach you in executing and implementing the relief that is needed on your part. A number of households and individuals have already received assistance under the Hurricane Elsa relief package and on Monday 12 July all affected sectors will begin to receive aid. The Ministry of Health and Wellness welcomes the partnership with pharmacies to make COVID-19 vaccines available to the public free of charge. Now in this report from Funnel Neptune. The People's Discount Pharmacy Limited recently commenced its new initiative with the Ministry of Health to ensure access of COVID-19 vaccines to its clients. National Immunization Manager Tecla Jabatis applauded the initiative and says this provides a great opportunity for people to access vaccines in a comfortable environment. This is really a partnership between the Ministry of Health and People's Discount Pharmacy for us at the Ministry of Health and also the owner of People's Discount Pharmacy. It is important that vaccines become available and accessible to our population. For them it is about people accessing vaccines in a familiar environment one that where they always come to to access other medications. For us we think it is a brilliant idea. We always welcome those public-private partnerships. We think it is an excellent avenue to reach out to the people. Order of People's Discount Pharmacy Limited, Rosemary Michelle says she is pleased that pharmacies can play a great part in healthcare and encourages people to get vaccinated. I want to say from a pharmacist point of view all medications have side effects. The simple aspirin that people take to save their lives can create a lot of problems otherwise. So we are encouraging people, it is important to take the vaccine. It is not only for you, it is for your family because you can pick up something out there and take it home. And so we encourage people to take the vaccine. It is going to help solve the kind of problems that we are experiencing now. The COVID-19 vaccination drive at the People's Discount Pharmacy Limited will take place every first day at the St. Louis Street branch from 9am to 4.30pm. The Ministry of Health encourages other pharmacies around the island to come on board and make vaccines available to the public. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness I am Fennel Neptune. The Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, continues to advocate for equitable access to vaccines across the globe. 1.1 million new COVID-19 cases were recorded in the Americas this week, a small decline when compared to the previous week. While mortality has also been reduced in this period, the Americas is still reporting over half of the deaths registered globally. A clear sign according to PAHO director Dr. Carissa Etienne that the toll of the pandemic continues to devastate families and communities, even as parts of the region are experiencing some relief. She noted that while cases in some areas are declining, cases in other parts of the region are rising. In the Caribbean, Cuba is reporting the highest number of new cases per week since the beginning of the pandemic. And Trinidad and Tobago is facing increased mortality due to COVID-19. The diversity and inequity of our region continues to be reflected, not only in the trends of the pandemic, but also on how countries are able to access vaccines. There is progress in vaccinations in the Americas, but alas not for all. One in four people in our region have been fully immunized and over 600 million doses have been administered in the Americas. However, over half of these doses have been applied in just one country, the United States. More developed countries have come to the aid of poorer countries donating COVID-19 vaccines. PAHO commended these countries, which include the United States of America and Mexico, to name a few. Dr. Etienne noted that regional solidarity is required to successfully fight the COVID-19 pandemic. PAHO, she assured, is playing its part in that fight. More countries know how to deploy vaccines and are ready, but they need more doses and they need them now. And that's why PAHO has urged nations with enough vaccines to share them with countries in the Americas that are still struggling. And that call is starting to resonate. This week El Salvador welcomed 1.5 million new vaccine doses from the United States government through the COVAX facility as part of the pledge to share at least 20 million doses to our region. Others are receiving additional donations of doses bilaterally. Bolivia is due to receive just over 1 million doses this week and other donations are being prepared. PAHO is leading the logistics for the delivery of the COVAX doses and we've been working with the US government, the COVAX facility and recipient countries to make sure that all requirements are met and that vaccines can quickly and safely arrive at their destinations. Director of PAHO, Dr. Carissa Atn. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives has launched the new Department of Agriculture Web portal as part of ongoing rebranding efforts. We get details in this report. In order to better support our nation's farmers and the general public, the Agriculture Ministry recently revamped its website to create a digital experience designed with its stakeholders and customer base in mind. The goal of this redesign is to provide the agricultural community with easily accessible support as they adapt their farming operations to better provide for our nation and the world. The Ministry's most recent activities and statistics as well as information on its state and sector strengths are all featured on the newly updated website. This includes a web-based version of the Ministry's recently launched iFarm App which provides information on crop production. One of the main goals of rebranding according to the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, Barbara Morphilicia is to appeal to the younger population. We saw with the old website the colors and the depiction they were not in line with the colors internationally known to be attributed to agriculture. So we came back with the colors you would see green and yellow featured which are the prominent agriculture colors internationally. So our website was more in line with what is known internationally and the global standard and also the content on the website. It features more heavily centered around the various departments, the service and product offering and the content needed for persons who are engaging agriculture, content such as the technology parks which would feature on the website. Other information that you would need to help you through things like concessions, videos on our shows, agriculture on the move, you would find that and of course linking that to our social media platform. These things were non-existent in the previous version of the website so we've updated it to make it more attractive and interactive. The improved website according to the Director of Agriculture Services, Dr. Aria King Sinak will provide efficiency by allowing clients to access a variety of services without having to physically visit the department. In many instances persons would bring in items and when it's detained they don't understand why. So on our website all of these things will be explained they would have access to conditions for imports and all of those things to make doing the ease of doing business a little easier, a little more accessible. So it's more or less to ensure that our faces out there and persons understand what we're doing and that they are able to access us at any given time with any questions. To access the Department of Agriculture's new website one can visit www.doaslu.govt.lc From the Ministry of Agriculture, this is Amanda Fay-Clock reporting. The Casstrees Constituencies Council has secured temporary relocation of fenders who will be impacted by demolition works on the marketing board building. Jesse Leos has a report on these and other plans surrounding remaining works on the first phase of the Casstrees redevelopment project. Ahead of the demolition of the old marketing board building in the Casstrees market, arrangements are being made to temporarily relocate vendors who ply their trade in that immediate vicinity for their safety. This undertaking is the latest work through the Casstrees redevelopment project. Similar to the accommodations made for provisions vendors last year during construction of the state of the art sheltered area, the city is looking to ensure that vendors who will be impacted by this new construction can still earn a living. Casstrees Mayor Peterson Francis says the vendors have agreed to the location pitched by the city. We have identified a spot for the vendors along the marketing board. So as long as we finalize this, I mean we have just signed an MOU, which means you have two reasons. This is going quickly, but you know, the season that we are in there right now that we have to put people for this before project. So, but that is on the card. So we are now in consultation with the people that we are going to move them by, if you know the empty spot by RECI there, we're going to relocate this temporarily. To date, the first component of the Casstrees redevelopment project phase one has been completed, now accommodating provisions market vendors in the sheltered area structurally designed to withstand wind speeds up to a category 5 hurricane with a layout that enables a free flow of traffic. Mayor Francis laments, however, that even with the more comfortable quarters assigned to the vendors, the city still grapples with excessive street vending. While the vendors were vending on the little tapoline, under the wind and so on, now we have given them a first-class facility. This is the time they want to go out now, go on the road to sell. And that has been a challenge for us. I mean, you know these days everything is politics. These are the vendors operating within the facility. Yes, itself. Now they are leaving the facility. Yes, they are. Why is that? I don't know why. Now they have become very creative. They are now taking trolleys. Before we didn't have trolleys, but now because we have the food market, we are now on the road selling. Because those who have gone back to the sidewalk, but we are not tolerating that. So it is a challenge. The next component of phase one of the project will see the construction of a container box park creating an avenue for micro-enterprising cosmetic shops, cafes, pubs and eateries. Thereafter, the remaining component of phase one will include modifications to the market entrance adjacent to the castries harbor, construction of a state-of-the-art food court, high-end air-conditioned restaurants, a refurbished craft market, entertainment area and meat and fish depots. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. This is NTN Nightly. Up next, Primers Hutchingson with the NTN Nouvelle, Cueio Allo. One of the eight universally recognized rights of the consumer is the right to satisfaction of basic needs. This means that every consumer has the right to basic goods and services that guarantee survival. This right includes adequate food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, water and sanitation. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchingson for the NTN Nouvelle, Cueio Allo. Thank you very much, Janelle. Thank you, Madam. I am from Kenybuesco, Sablite, for the Government Information Service. I am from Nouvelle, Cueio Allo, Primers Hutchingson. The rights of the consumer, Sablite Lefama, is the right to satisfaction of basic needs. The right to satisfaction of basic needs. I am Janelle Lefama, for the Government Information Service. This right includes adequate food, a refurbished craft market, a refurbished craft market, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Equality, and the journalists to present their report to the Cabinet of Governments to provide assistance for the damage caused by the cyclone. Prime Minister Alain Chastney said that for those 600 people who suffer from damage and the damage caused by the cyclone, the government will always be able to provide assistance to the people who suffer from damage, and the people who suffer from damage. The government will also be able to provide assistance to the financial institutions who have often helped with the damage caused by the cyclone. And we will also be able to provide assistance to the government to provide assistance to the people who suffer from damage. Prime Minister Alain Chastney said that for those 500 people who suffer from damage from the cyclone, the government will always be able to provide assistance to the people who suffer from damage caused by the cyclone. And we will be able to provide assistance to the people who suffer from damage caused by the cyclone. Prime Minister Alain Chastney said that for those 500 people who suffer from damage caused by the cyclone, the government will always be able to provide assistance to the people who suffer from damage caused by the cyclone. And we will be able to provide assistance to the people who suffer from damage caused by the cyclone. We pay six people for financial support for farmers who suffer from damage unaffected and so far underг financial restoration. We also pay six people for dog welfare. We also have a major canal allocation of the land that has been in place to assist with the major waterways. We also have the most affected farmers, the fishers. Through the Department of Fisheries, we also have the farmers. We also have the farmers who are in support of the income and the financial support of the farmers. The Minister of Agriculture also said that the Department of Fisheries can assist with the major waterways. We also have the farmers. During the last three weeks, the Renew restructuring NFTU, the content prime minister, has given us an allocation of $4.2 million per cycle. And it is still going to assist farmers. We will not allow farmers to assist with the major waterways. It's not a fault of the government that farmers fix the H.I.L.A. I mean, let us continue with the government. We have problems there. And I don't want to talk about the TV or the radio. I don't want to have problems there. And we have to try to have good resources to change the problem there. C'est divers la famille qui devait affecter par cyclone Elsa. La gênée 3 million dollars qui a place pour y retrouver assistance. Méné skiné responsabilité pour égalité. On a ablénatement tout. Expliqué, à façon, c'est assistance à la CAEFET. En 3 million dollars à la CAEFET, l'année a pli pour une seconde CAE, nous estimez qu'il tout fait dommager totalement. Avec ce monde-là, nous c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé, nous c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé, même qui 15 mille dollars pour assister au coup, nous c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé, on c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé, on c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé, on c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé, et nous c'est dommageé. On dit à average, nous c'est à l'heure où nous c'est aidé nous c'est aidé. by $5,000 for each kai, it will cost $2,250,000. So, that's how we spent $3,000,000 to buy our assistance because the majority of the people who are in the kai are poor. They are poor. People who can, with us, want to help our assistance, they need it. So, I promise that we will buy our assistance and we will do our best to buy our assistance as soon as possible. So, I would like to thank my mother, SSDF, who implemented the program for the kai to come and visit us. I would like to ask you a few questions. We have made an assessment of the address on this side with Abwesan. We will talk to Bahou Matui to help our assistance to the kai. We will talk to the kai who is a neighbor, the kai family, who is also a kai. We will talk to the kai to help them to come and visit us. We know that the kai will always be there. We will talk to Bahou Matui who is a kai, who is good for the government and for everyone to come and visit us in a normal situation. I am very happy to have the Minister of Responsibility to make an assessment. We will talk to them. We will discuss the issue of the kai and the cooperative. We will discuss the issue of the assistance to the kai who is coming to the kai and the kai and the assistance to the kai. We will talk to the kai and the kai to help them to come and visit us. I would like to ask you a few questions. What do you think about this new kai? I would like to thank everyone. Thank you very much. I would also like to thank you for all the support you have given us. Also for the support that you have given us despite the corona. Thank you very much for your channel.