Published On:Friday, April 09, 2010

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Under mentioned are some points of concern triggered by the possibility of Chinese farming on Abaco. There has not been any public thorough information disclosure so far and we are hoping that this letter will prompt BAIC or the Ministry of Agriculture to hold a public meeting so farmers and the residents of our island can know what to expect as far as the Chinese involvement on our island. We would appreciate if you could publish this letter in your next issue.

Abaco Neem welcomes growth on our island, environmentally friendly and controlled growth (of course we still need a master plan); we are concerned with companies coming here to do large scale agriculture (especially with livestock) that could further contaminate our water table.

Let's not forget that one of our most valuable resources is our fresh water, another one being the mangroves that protect our shores and that could be easily destroyed by agriculture products run-off.

According to internet data, 65 per cent of the world's water is now polluted by chemicals.

We are one of the few places on earth sitting on that valuable commodity: fresh potable water. It should not be contaminated by large scale industry or unsupervised use of toxic chemicals for the short term benefit of the creation of a few jobs or government trade offs. It is our most sacred duty to protect our fresh water reserves and to leave it unpolluted for future generations.

If China wants to come here and grow organically and practise environmentally friendly farming, where the food is going to be sold here first hand, not through third hand importation by wholesalers, we welcome them. It is being said that they intend to do large scale livestock farming: that would most certainly create contamination through the seeping of nitrates and growth hormones and antibiotics into the water lens that eventually end up in our drinking water. This inevitably will result in the long term to high health care costs, increased disease and create a further strain on our public treasury and result in increased cost of living.

As a concerned entity we would like to be informed of where these farmers were farming prior to coming here; we would like to see photographs of their farms and the environmental impact they had on the surrounding communities. China supposedly has a high rate of birth defects caused by industrial and mostly agricultural pollutants.

That information prompts us to request an impact study on the communities where the Chinese were involved in farming.

What do those surrounding areas look like today?

The population of The Bahamas is approaching 400,000 people. With assistance from the Government, it should be possible for local farmers, taking a lesson from past farming, adopting new agro-technology such as vertical farming and hydroponics to render our country self-sufficient. Abaco Neem has proven, without formal assistance, that organic farming can be successful in this country. Give our Bahamian farmers a real chance and support from the public and assistance from the Government with land tenure and grants where deserved and we farmers can repeat history and do what our forefathers did a short forty years ago. We can help our country get on track with food security for the nation. If any country wants to step in and lend assistance with the development of new environmentally friendly technologies we would welcome them.

Stop and consider another area of concern might be the reaction provoked in our Northern neighbors, America and Canada, by the Bahamas depending on the Chinese for food security, is this really what independence is all about? Our North American neighbours have helped feed us through the years by contributing to steady tourism and agriculture and here on Abaco have provided financial security through the regular yearly cash influx of our second home owners who have helped build our community. Are we cutting off the hands that help feed us?

We would welcome a public forum during which BAIC and the Ministry of Agriculture could outline the immediate and residual benefits the Bahamian people would obtain through this alliance with China.

This letter is meant to voice our concerns and to ask questions.

We have not formed an opinion because we do not have all the facts, like the rest of our community we would like to be apprised of the facts by those who are drawing the contracts before they are signed on the dotted line and before any land preparation takes place.

NICK MIAOULIS

Abaco Neem,

Marsh Harbour,

Abaco,

Apri, 2010.