 Hello again, Saint Lucia, and welcome to the program, Agriculture on the Move. I am Philip Sidney, your host. Today with me, my guest, a very pretty young lady, who has been with us for a little while. She is attached to the marketing unit, and of course she is an agricultural officer, and she is also a committee member of the Agri Events Committee in the ministry, and of course I'm trying to see whether she can understand me, you know, when it comes to events coordinating, because she has a passion for that. So I want you to introduce her to Kendra Pin. Welcome to the program. Thank you for having me, Mr Sidney. Great. So Kendra, you have been from the, the fact the first day you came to the ministry, did I drop you on me, right? And we had, we had this activity up at Bosigio? Yes, I think it was the Caribbean Expo, right? Right. Yes, yes, yes. And from there, your face become a face of the ministry. Because everybody was asking, well, where you get this young lady from? Right, that's what I'm into over there. So you started on a very good, good footing. Thank you. And then from there, what happened? You went straight into the marketing unit, right? Yes, when I got my first temporary implement to the ministry, then I understood it at the time is unfair, and then from there I came in, I got appointed and they kept me in marketing units. Beautiful. Yes. You determined though. So Kendra, we had today really to talk about the many events we have had in the ministry, but then some of them are outstanding and you being in the marketing unit and also on the event committee, you're involved in organizing and coordinating the production of recipe books. Tell us, what are the real objectives of the recipe books? Okay, but to be honest with you, most of them that we have produced, we've done three thus far, and they all have similar objectives, more or less to increase our local consumption of the various commodities and also to in the hopes that it helps to increase production so that farmers can get more sales and whatnot. Like I said, we have done three. So the first one that we had was a cassava recipe book when I came in. It was done under Jaika at the time and then I think Ministry of Health and of course our ministry facilitated the development of that book. That one I think had some food safety aspects behind it because some persons were concerned about consuming cassava. And then the second one that we did after that was the original mango which got revamped this year as our also launched at our mango festival. And then we had the banana which was, I think that one came about with some issue they had with exporting bananas to the UK at the time and the government found it necessary to promote more local consumption of the bananas. Not excluding the statement made by our prime minister that drove everybody bananas. Yes, very much so. The objective was to really show solutions and maybe the foreigners, the many derivatives especially from a culinary standpoint that can be done with the cassava, the mango and the bananas. So let's look at each of them individually. I remember we did some work with the schools some years ago for a whole food day activity and the school did so many things and I'm wondering at the time I don't think we were able to capture what the schools did. Very unfortunate because the kids did a lot of stuff and we need going down the road, I think we need to capture a lot of what the schools have done. Maybe a school's recipe book maybe call it that way or maybe moving forward we probably can look at including them in other recipe books moving forward because I mean they have done a lot of work. What are your thoughts on that? I think that's a good idea. I think officially right now we will also promote sustainability. It will be very good to involve the young upcoming DC chefs etc to partake in those stuff. Especially when we have the festivals going on they see how excited they should be to prepare their dishes and stuff. The kids are so excited. Anytime they hear festivals of that nature you know they are all excited and they really come to the fore and sometimes very little time for preparation and you could see the array of dishes that especially with the banana festival I mean I was wow I was surprised and unfortunately we didn't really capture but I was telling Miriam who is on the committee for the Ministry of Education maybe we definitely have to sit and look go back and look at the banana the mango and the cassava from the school's standpoint you know and come up with certain things that they have done because they have done I mean one I always keep seeing it all the time I we had this one at the at the at the sub that was in 2019 and we had the the head school and this girl did this sweet potato ice cream you know I mean that that's on my mind up till now that tastes my taste buds are still you know I'm still waiting for this you know and I believe we need to highlight those persons the young young people because I think they've done a lot so the cassava going back to it how how was that produced well at the time we had a Japanese volunteer attached to the marketing unit it was mainly her project but I gave support so that's where I kind of caught an idea a feel of how to put together a recipe book and everything I think at the time we also had a cassava project going on as well which is where it stemmed from right in terms of how it has done we worked with bakery um bakers from the various bakeries around the island who currently were engaging in cassava production um in terms of like making cassava bread cakes etc and then we also worked with a lot of schools for that one um we worked with especially the cashiest comprehensive school I remember they did a lot of a lot of stuff yeah and then we worked with one or two chefs from the various hotels and um yeah I feel like that was the the beginning or something really nice I would say and you find that kind of form like the foundation for all the other ones that came afterwards yeah right what I remember with the cassava I remember um there was a master chef from Trinidad who came down under the FU project and and they they had this this um on hand showing or demonstrating how to make the cassava bread I think bruce bruce bickery was present yes you're right armor bickery was present manis as well manis was present too and in fact they were the ones selling a lot of those um recipes of the cassava bread but the problem they encountered was to get the cassava mash and the cassava itself you know and often people weren't buying this you know because it was it was a shift I think it was what it was it 40 percent 40 percent cassava and 60 percent flour I believe something like that yeah yeah and in fact so much so I think one of them to get to 50 percent cassava mash and 50 percent flour right you know and people gravitated to that because of the the nutritive value to it right and less white flour right you know and that is what I think we should go back again and try and revisit that and to get solutions to eat more of that you know that bread because I think it it it can it can go very very very far so I think that's that's another area we need to probably go back to the um because FAO came and they give them some support maybe we can have them come back again probably you know and have the ministry get involved and to to ensure that that is a stable but what is for us I think most important is the question of um production you know either farm if if the farmers can produce then the beakers can do it agree and then to do it at the cost of production to us another thing too because um to get the cassava right and to get the cassava mash at that cost I think it was a bit high for them too so I think that's another area we need to but but but in in your opinion you you um that was the beginning so did that catapult you to going to doing some more and going going into the banana um the banana recipe book um more or less I would say um just in the sense of when I came into the ministry I already had a graphic design background however when it comes to capturing the dishes in a particular way I didn't really have that skill at the time so I really got that through Ricky I really have to um fank her for Ricky so carrying me along with her and kind of teaching me how to maneuver the camera and whatnot um but to be honest I think from we did that first cassava book the public received it so well that they had other initiatives coming out of the ministry when now they saw the need to incorporate recipe books under different projects and that's how the other ones came about and whichever wants to come yes yes yes but I think in off-camera discussion we had maybe this morning in the office we saw the need not only to look at the culinary aspect of those uh commodities but we also saw the need for the agro processing standpoint yeah because I think uh we have really pushed the agro processors over the years to come up with derivatives from those various crops and other other other crops all right like the banana flower and stuff like that look I guess at the mango festival which we'll talk about there was a mango oil that was produced for ladies hair you know so I believe maybe the next step is for us to look at um another book where we could look at um maybe um value added you know what what what what's your thoughts on that would it be a book that will be focused on only consumption products or because I heard you mentioned about some oils for hay etc yes I think we look at everything we bring in this this um agro processing book in general yes that's what I was thinking agro processing book in general so we can focus on various aspects you know um because I mean not only banana not only um cassava not only mango I mean you have coconuts all right now we have coconut flower and that is that if that takes off people are going to buy it it's it's getting in demand we have the gentleman who's pushing it so I'm saying with all of those derivatives I believe we should have a special book highlighting those products I think that's a good idea Mr Sydney especially since um normally what you find whenever we have those books come out it kind of indirectly shows us promotion for the participants in the book so for example um if we have let's say um a named processor puts them in together and someone's like oh wow this person actually does let's say breadfruit flower and then they would now be able to know where to go to get such circles not everybody knows what we have on island that's another thing too yeah we need to put the web those persons are doing yes probably some contact information I can tell you after those festivals the people kept calling I mean for example island pop is a very popular you know product and people have been calling us to know where they can get it so this is another another area we have to look into you know yes they are they they are at a festival they are showcase signal whatever they're doing but they need continuity you know as to where to where to where to to to get those products for sale and I think so we definitely have to go back to drawing board and sale and sit and put some things together because we need to highlight those get those persons out there like the the um the central network of real women right the barbuno cluster and the miku cluster I mean the only thing I think that has been that has come out of the miku cluster is the miku chocolate all right yes but they do more than that it's true so where is it where I mean they come yes they showcase at at an event and that's it that's it for them you know apart from the chocolate that took off all right it's in the store markets and it does move the world now all right they're doing more than just the dark chocolate you know so what do we do how how do we handle that I mean I am so this is something that you know when we go back to the drawing board we'll have to look at it and actually decide let me be called them into because they are part and parcel of that whole thing so you can have to call them in sit down and let us do some brainstorming you understand because at the end of the day we need to move them and move us that is the country you know when you look at our our food security yeah you know now is more of an important time now yes you know that has to be looked at you know in the in when you look at this over markets right now all right I mean to be honest with you I notice they've been bringing in what they call it um um plant and chips and banana chips that's been imported can we not do it tell me what do we do I mean I believe we can be empowered to do that right at least let us do something to cut down on our import the importation you know and maybe we made just or the ministry we may have to you know have a discussion with the agro processors you know and decide hey what can we do instead of doing I mean so many but then we can focus on a few priority ones and do it well you understand because I believe I mean we have there's some locals you know who have been doing the plant and chips and banana chips right but then they're still being imported there's something what are we what are we not doing or what are we doing you know so I believe that you know it's an area that we definitely need to give some attention to and um you know let's look because as you have heard the ministries mansion now especially the minister is pushing it is food and nutrition security yeah that is key you know the policy is has to be is there so we never we now have to put all hands on deck and to ensure that we can feed ourselves you know definitely because what's happening you can see it right now and the cost of production is rising the cost of inputs are rising you know so let us do what we can do organically to the next end so that we can actually get our stuff on the on the supermarket shelf and not only putting there because what has been happening and people are telling you they keep putting all our all the local stuff all at the bottom you know and they're putting the imported ones on top right you understand so they get there's more visibility you know kind of so we need to look at this thing and see what's happening something maybe is the advertising we need to do a lot a lot a lot more now with what's happening you know with mr. Sydney as you brought that up and I think I've noticed from being the ministry you know I also do work if agro processors right and um we have a lot of persons out there doing a lot of amazing products but they don't know how to market it properly right and sometimes you'll find because of that is very difficult for them to get on the shelf so that's something us we also I think we need to put a bit more effort definitely I think we need to have that discussion but we do have to do for our break now okay you're watching out the culture on the move stay tuned we'll be back soon don't go away what's in the food you're eating do you really even know all the chemicals and hormones used to accelerate their growth all the artificial flavoring sweeteners and colors too we consume and we don't spare a thought for the damage that they do think about the children think about the children how will we save them it calls and GMOs are not the solution use organic and join excessive agrochemical use additives and genetically modified foods are harmful to health and the environment join the good food revolution grow buy and consume organic a message from rye st lusia and the ministry of sustainable development with funding from the gef small grants program UNDP welcome back to the program agriculture on the move of course i'm philip sidney your host and with me kenja pain who is an agricultural officer attached to the marketing unit in the ministry of agriculture kenja we were talking about um the marketing of those commodities from the agro processors very important point um okay before i say anything how how how do you see that happening um well maybe the ministry can put something but instantly we could have a discussion and see if it's possible where we could kind of like have some sort of trainings to kind of show them the importance of branding um labeling um and also we could work with bureau of standards other persons that play a part in um putting together a product that meets standards especially when it comes to food safety aspects as well um and i think basically we could just um guide them along and if they come to the ministry to get some sort of support some sort of assistance you could probably um help them in terms of putting designs together because we do have skilled persons at the ministry that can probably make something like that happen beautiful in fact i think the ministry the ministry is best poised in terms of the marketing unit to guide when it comes to marketing of the farmers just all the agro processors you know so i think that's the start from there and then they continue to the next level maybe to go out there get for apart from we you know the guidance right they can actually get somebody out there some graphic artists to put something together even even we i mean i know you you're very good that maybe you can start them with with something because it is costly it is it is very very costly to get to get a graphic artist to do this it's going to work for you um but if you can get somebody to start off then you can get there so i think i think there's some something that we need to call them in to discuss you know because after an event i mean where can you get that product from you know and the people are asking people after the mango the mango activity people have been calls have been coming to the ministry asking but where can i get henshin island pops the ps called me asked me to send his number to him right you you understand and not only him all right um people have been asking about the the the mango the mango oil you know i'm talking about mango let's go to bananas now okay um the banana of our festival um or the banana expo i mean it really we that was that was only on the on the table for a while yes because you remember what 2019 or 2020 it was a little bit before covid time before yes before covid right but covid came in and that actually shelved it for a while yes and um what i think got it back on track again was when the the prime minister made the statement yes you know about the consumption of bananas and people you know took this thing to the next level and tried to really ridicule him in that regard which i find out was i mean i mean there's a time for politics for me and there's a time for you know let's look at country you understand there's nothing wrong in telling solution let us eat what we grow and you know our mantra in the ministry is eat fresh the solution is best okay so bananas are you know is inclusive so here we decided to have a banana expo all right i mean it was it was fast forwarded based on the statement that the prime minister made but then at the end of the day we came out in a big way to to tell the solutions yes it can be done right and then one of the components was the development of the of the the recipe book so tell us about that recipe book okay so the banana recipe book um that we have has 60 recipes um we i worked with at the time that one was more of a sole project into putting the book together so i worked with um restaurants and hotels um from around the island um well to be honest it had to be around the island but then jutsu covid and that that um sudden stop i wasn't able to do the restaurants and stuff in the south of the island however we were still able to get 60 recipes so that's still commendable commendable so yes yes um in any event so basically the way we normally would conduct those those visits i would visit the restaurants um normally i would have a colleague of mine accompanying me to take down the recipes um we'll capture the dish right there taste it have an idea of of what stem that creativity to put that particular dish together so that when anybody would come back and ask us at the mini she will know how to respond obviously people want to ask you that it tastes good i have to be able to say if it tastes good for true etc um everybody that have worked with us thus far in all the books that i've done in general i find they're very hospitable um they they seem very excited to be part of our initiatives they always ask in what other book will be doing because they're so eager to be featured in upcoming um commodity books so yeah but you had some main chefs that i mean there are so many oh yes but then one of the two main contributors that come to mind is chef holando and chef robbie yes you know and they really came to the fore you know um in in in the book and in the recipe book and not only that on the day of the expo you know um i must really thank holando because he really came to the fore where he had a live cooking demonstration in fact not only one i think he had he had a few and people already went to them and he worked with with um robbie in that regard too because robbie had his chef there you know and they also did some work you know so i must say that banana fest um expo was it was an eye opener for a lot of people because even for me too when i especially schools man when i i went to the to their booth and i actually saw what was happening that i was again i was mesmerized you know and um and that is why i insist that we have to do something separately for them for the school school a school's recipe book you know um we have to do that because we cannot allow that allow these things to go go to waste you know you know yeah and um so but again the other chefs from the other hotels contributors right i mean i i don't know if you have you had a book with you right well we cannot on display right now but i would love to go through those of you who are really interested in getting the books we'll talk about that where you can get them because we have realized the demand for these books are increasing you know robbie you know we will get to you because robbie have been calling me chef robbie because he really wants some of those books at his um restaurant right because um the tourists are asking for it yes and so he's calling every week so um definitely we need to put something together maybe just um print some more have a sale of recipe books maybe down in the in the boulevard okay or constitution park but um we also will i'll mention it in a while where we can do it again but definitely the the recipe books need to go out the other one that really caught our attention you know it was again the mango festival that came on board which we had about four years ago but it but it was looking you know yes i think that one is under forestry under forestry and we see as i think would push this one um but at the end of the day we saw the need to to to you know again get it back on track again and then tell us about the revamping of this one okay so for the revamp um mango book to be honest with you the very first one that we did already got um good positive feedback from persons who got their hand but it was printed on a small scale um so for the revamp for me because a couple years past we wanted to include some additional recipes in there and also um but for this one i guess because there was a major festival attached to it you find out more people kept looking for those books i think the first time we printed it was about 100 to 200 copies it wasn't that much but the revamped version we printed about 400 copies of the book and we plan to print some more so um in light of that um yeah um the first time when the book was done it was basically featuring only um restaurateurs um bartenders et cetera but um the revamp one has some additional recipes from the south for louis school which i really liked because um the the educators got an opportunity to showcase some other stuff that they've been teaching the students which was nice and and of course we also featured um uh these things uh interesting guests um on the book as well which was the ambassador's wife if you remember yes yes who who did something she put together that's the the thai one is ambassador's wife so so there was some thai one is dish yes yes so one or two thai one is dishes in there as well which is interesting and i think that that that this this is the things that we need to um you know combine you know our own with the foreigners and so that is why i'm looking forward for you know a national food fair again you know too because we have a lot of foreigners like san lusia the jamaican the trinidadians and whatever so we need we definitely need need need to do that but the mango is very interesting because one of the things that we try to do and we try to do it in mango in the mango season all right and we're able to show some varieties but i thought i knew mangoes varieties and let me tell you yeah we have a lot let me tell you you know about the week before i knew about 25 when uh just the the day before the activity i had 49 already and i was told there about 75 recipes of um varieties of mangoes in san lusia you know and what's interesting is the various varieties do do different things yes there are some those those are a bit sour which will go for juice and other things and that is the the the variety of um the variety of mangoes that we have and the variety of things that we can do the various derivatives from it and that too again both the mango and the banana we need to do you know the agro processing part of it because that's just the culinary aspect so we need to do the the other thing this is what we we definitely need to have a a chat in that in that direction so overall what are your thoughts well overall i'm just happy to see how well the books have been going people have been calling um the ministry even after they like today still asking about um either person that want to participate in any upcoming books and also person that is want to copy yeah and um it's so it's so interesting that the first day that we go is already done yes so much so we have to print some more but it is it's good because i feel like these books um um are meeting its objectives so definitely i see that there is need for more and obviously we could always improve as we go forward well Kendra we come to the end of the program i want to thank you for being here thank you for having me sir Sydney definitely you have a lot to do yes for sure for sure and before we leave i just want to tell you something we look forward for our um our seamos fiesta coming on stream for october 16th whole food day at four door i have this one's going to be big so i just want to remind you so remember our culture is our business eat fresh it's the lucius best i'm philip sydney of course kendra p in my gears goodbye