<<<Pumpkins galore are flowing into the North Andros packing house. BAIC executive chairman Edison Key (left) and Domestic Investment Officer Alphonso Smith examine them. (BIS photo by Gladstone Thurston)
Nicholl’s Town, Andros – Lucayan Tropical Produce’s proposed operation in North Andros will advance agriculture and benefit farmers there. That was the message delivered by Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) and Lucayan Tropical during a meeting with the North Andros District Council last weekend.
“You could only benefit from Lucayan’s presence here,” BAIC executive chairman Edison Key told them.
Added Lucayan’s sales manager Roger Rolle: “There is no need to feel that we are coming here and put anybody out of business. We intend to do exactly the opposite and that is to work together so that everybody at the end of the day gets a piece of the pie.”
In pursuit of the government’s food security policy, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources and BAIC have been encouraging Bahamians to tap into the many millions of dollars used to import food.
Among those present at the meeting were Administrator Dr Huntley Christie, Chief Councilor Brian Cleare, BAIC’s Domestic Investment Officer Alphonso Smith and local government officials.
Mr Key was accompanied by general manager Benjamin Rahming, secretary to the board of BAIC Joyce Treco and assistant general manager Arnold Dorsett.
“We have a vision and that is for farming to improve in this country,” said Mr Rolle. “We are farmers just like you and we are passionate about farming. We know that we need to do a far better job at feeding ourselves than we are doing right now. We are far too dependent on imports.”
It is of no surprise that the government is backing Lucayan Tropical given its ownership, but I cant understand how a private hydroponics operation is going to benefit farmers and creat jobs for them. The government should take hydroponics and train Bahamian farmers and assist them in forming their own operations.
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