St Lucia: Ministry of Agriculture launches Data Share Platform in collaboration with Taiwan

St Lucia: The Ministry of Agriculture launched its Data Share Platform, which allows for the centralization of the Ministry’s data based on access control lists so that requests for data do not have to be made or delivered by email but can be made available in real-time, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

The data share platform was developed by Yi-Hsiu (Jenny) Chen, an IT Specialist attached to the Taiwan ICDF Overseas Volunteer Program. However, it was a collaboration between the Taiwan ICDF and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, with funding from the Taiwanese Government.

Speaking at the launch ceremony held at Union, Peter Chia-yen Chen, Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, said Taiwan would continue to support St Lucia’s human capacity building.

“In the future, Taiwan will continue to work with St Lucia to strengthen our cooperation on all fronts in the field of agriculture in order to promote food security for all people,” he said.

Ambassador Chen also praised Yi-Hsiu for her excellent work during her stint in St Lucia.

“Over the past year, Yi-Hsiu worked hard and diligently to help accomplish much work through her expertise in technology,” Ambassador Chen stated. “The Agriculture Data Sharing Platform is among her achievements which she spent lots of work and effort to accomplish. We are so proud of her.”

The Ministry of Agriculture consists of many departments; therefore, the data-sharing platform will help better link the many departments and stimulate better decision-making. Users will be allowed to easily upload data onto the platform without the need for changing the format, which was a historical problem for us, where we had multiple formats used by different departments.

This Data Share Platform is also meant to curb wait times for requested data as the relevant personnel can access the data without the bureaucracy of filtration through organizational structure, as is the norm, before data is retrieved.

Alfred Prospere, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, expressed his excitement at the new data share platform being implemented. He noted that it was a step in the right direction for the Ministry, adding that he would like it to move to the next step, where the data can be filtered down to the layman, farmers, and fishers.

“I would like to thank the Taiwan ICDF and the people of Taiwan for their unwavering support, especially as it pertains to the enhancement and sustainable development of the agricultural sector in Saint Lucia, and the dedication of the Ministry of Agriculture, through their various units, in ensuring that this platform gets the use that it deserves and, in so doing, sets the Ministry of Agriculture as a cut above the rest,” Prospere said.