At the recently concluded World Food Day Exhibition, which was held on October 14 at the old Treasury Building car park, the Windward Islands Farmers Association (WINFA) took the opportunity to showcase how local produce can be used to create desserts that are not only tasty, but also healthier.

This year’s World Food Day theme was “Climate is changing; Food and agriculture must too”, which created a perfect medium for WINFA to promote our own theme of “Eating what we grow”.{{more}}

The four featured crops were pumpkins, christophenes, sweet potatoes and arrowroot. The intent behind this endeavour was to promote and sensitize the public about how local agricultural commodities can be utilized, instead of using canned goods and products that have been imported.

The general public was treated to samples of recipes made by Tenille Austin of Toni’s Delectable Creations, an upcoming pastry chef who currently works with WINFA. Persons raved about their favourite samples and were truly impressed with the quality, taste and neat display of the desserts presented at the booth.

The WINFA’s booth also had on exhibition a series of pro-biotic products that it is currently developing and applying on a selection of demonstration farms. The use of this type of fertilizer and pest treatment versus the non-organic fertilizers helps to build crop resilience, provides protection against diseases and helps to increase crop yields by providing the soil with an increased level of essential nutrients. The Pro-biotics Project has already developed products that can be used to manage Trips and Leafspot in banana production, as well as fertilizers to enhance general soil fertility. According to WINFA’s coordinator, Kozel Frazer, “the future of food and agriculture in St Vincent and the Grenadines is hinged on our ability to turns the current climate challenges into opportunities, both for building more sustainable production systems and for employment creation in the sector”.