The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian agriculture has been developing in an “ad hoc” manner for far too long, the Bahamas Agricultural Producers Association’s (BAPA) president telling Tribune Business yesterday that a market information management system, inclusive of crop forecasting, needs to be produced.

Dr Keith Campbell said: “Marketing is the big gorilla in the room that we have to deal with.  We have to see where we are now, and how informatively we can improve the whole marketing system.

“There are things that we need to able to do like crop forecasting. We need to be able to tell the purchasers what’s going to be be available because the hotel people, for instance, have to plan ahead. We just can’t come and show up at the door and say: ‘I have a truck full of tomatoes, what can you do for me?’

“We have to develop a market information management system in terms of crop forecasting. Before the farmer begins to plant he should have an idea of what the market price is going to be and whether or not he wants to plant that crop. It’s all about knowing what’s available, when, and also pricing. We have been moving in an ad hoc manner for far to long.”

Dr Campbell said Bahamians needed to be made aware of the benefits of ‘Buying Bahamian’, telling Tribune Business that a lot of work needs to be done in terms of marketing local produce.

He said: “In terms of this thrust, we do need the customer on our side. One thing we need to do is point out the socio-economic and health aspects of buying local produce.

“From the point of health, it’s fresher and more nutritious. There definitely has to be a Buy Bahamian promotion that points to all of the benefits from eating and buying local produce.  It’s all in the marketing. With the marketing  situation, a whole lot of work has to be done. A lot lot of work has to be done in terms of advancing the sector. We are behind in terms of where we should have been.”

The Government is calling on Bahamian farmers and farmer-hopefuls to come forward and receive assistance in the form of labour or financial benefits.

The scheme, it is hoped, will help address both the country’s high unemployment rate, and considerable food import bill.

V Alfred Gray, minister of agriculture, marine resources and local government, recently said talks with Bahamians involved in agriculture and mariculture are “going well”, but more farmers are needed to help spend his ministry’s $1 million allotment.

Dr Campbell said Bahamians were generally keen on getting involved in the agricultural sector. “It’s  a means of increasing and diversifying our livelihood, and there are many people, based on my experience, who are looking forward to inroads being made. It  has to be planned, realistic, orderly. Bahamians are enthusiastic about getting involved in agriculture,” he added.

Dr Campbell said the  Bahamian agricultural sector could supply the entire country, noting that under the first Free National Movement administration, a $9,000 cap on produce sold by individual famers to the packing houses was put in place to curb spoilage.

“This is a very small market. If you plant 100 acres of one crop you could flood the market. When the FNM first came into power, one of the first things they did was put a moratorium of $9,000 as the maximum gross amount of business  that  a farmer could sell in one year to the packing house. The reason why they did that was  because they were overwhelmed by the spoilage,” he added.