The Tribune

BY FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A LONGTIME Abaco farmer said crop insurance could help unlock much-needed financing for Bahamian farmers, who say the lack of insurance coverage has been one of the major obstacles to expanding agriculture.

Nick Miaoulis, president of the Abaco Farming Association, said the industry is optimistic about the government’s exploration of crop insurance, stressing the initiative could have an impact far beyond protecting farmers from hurricane and weather-related losses.

Speaking to Tribune Business, Mr Miaoulis said it is “crazy” that farmers like himself have been operating for more than 30 years without insurance coverage while maintaining operations through decades of natural disasters.

“It’s very important for farmers to have insurance. We can all come under one umbrella to where we can afford it. I’ve been farming for 33 years without insurance. That’s crazy,” he said.

His comments come as the government explores a crop insurance programme aimed at giving farmers greater confidence to expand production, particularly given the Bahamas’ exposure to hurricanes and other weather risks.

Mr Miaoulis said the issue is not simply the loss of a crop following a major storm, noting that a severe weather event can also leave producers without the capital needed to replant and continue operating, creating another barrier to agricultural expansion.

He said strong collaboration between farmers and government will be essential if the sector is to make up lost ground.

“We’re trying to build momentum. It’s very important that we keep it up,” he said.

“We want to work with government. We don't want to fight government. I don't care who's in power. We will work with any Administration, okay, and I feel that this current minister of agriculture is really trying his best. But we have to work as a team. We have to hold hands and move forward because we have a lot of catching up to do.”

He pointed to the country’s agricultural history as evidence of the potential for greater domestic production, arguing that rebuilding the sector will require farmers to return to the basics of production while creating the commercial structures needed to support them.

“You realize, you realize over 70 years ago we produced more than we do today,” he said. “So we need to get back to basics of farming.”

He said, in addition to access to insurance, farmers also need access to grants and other forms of capital because traditional bank financing remains difficult to secure for agriculture.

“There are many grants out there that we can go after, as a co-op instead of begging the banks because the banks ain’t gonna lend money for agriculture,” he said.

He said the challenge is particularly significant in a country exposed to hurricanes, where agricultural lending carries risks that farmers may struggle to absorb on their own.

“The fact of the matter is, we live in a hurricane zone, right?” he said.

Mr Miaoulis stressed that the potential economic benefits extend beyond the farm itself, arguing that greater domestic production could strengthen food security and reduce the country's reliance on imported food.

“Globally, food security is a global issue. It’s not just our little issue, but quality of food, we can manufacture. We can produce in this country. We can grow, we can grow, we can feed ourselves,” he said.

However, he warned that increased production will mean little if farmers cannot find buyers for what they grow.

Using mangoes as an example, he said Abaco farmers experienced an abundance of the fruit this year but struggled to get hotels and restaurants to purchase the local crop.

“If you came to Abaco and you went to the hotel, and you order a mango drink, a mango fruit bunch, or daiquiri, that’s not a mango from Abaco,” he said.

“That comes out of a carton, okay. Imported.”

He said local farmers had so many mangoes that they had to puree and freeze the fruit because they could not secure sufficient demand from hotels and restaurants.

“We need everybody to buy local, all right,” he said.

The same issue, he argued, applies to other agricultural products, pointing to the need for further investment in processing and other infrastructure.

He cited Eleuthera’s pineapple industry as an example, arguing that the island should have a pineapple juicing plant to create another commercial outlet for locally grown produce.

“The pineapples, in Eleuthera, organized correctly, should have a pineapple juicing plant,” he said.

The broader message, he said, is that farmers will be reluctant to invest in increasing production if they cannot be confident that a market exists.

“Yeah, we can grow a lot of things in this country, and people are not going to go into farming if there’s no market. If we don’t get the local support.”