Local Farming Program A Game Changer

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – With bird flu in U.S. Poultry sending egg prices sky high, and Walmart broccoli facing a class 1 recall for listeria concerns, many have turned to local farmers for their produce.

But how close are we to meeting our regional food security goal of reducing food imports by 25 percent by 2025?

Darron Pickstock is the Chairman of The Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation.

“It is a work in progress, I would say that. But we are doing very important things to ensure that that happens,” says Pickstock

Things like the North Andros farmers commercialization program, hoping to grow local farmers into commercially viable initiatives.

“The response was overwhelming and so 12 farmers in North Andros and the program is being expanded that were selected and are committed to growing crops specifically to meet demands of nationally recognizable wholesalers,” says Pickstock

The BAIC then pairs the farmers with wholesalers to get products directly to wholesalers.

Why does it matter? Not only does a healthy local farming industry help keep money in the economy and food prices stable, it also has a number of benefits for the environment.

Things like reducing the carbon footprint it takes to get your food from farm to table. Smaller local farms also tend to use less pesticides than international giants.

“This is a game changer because of rat first time these orders are being placed, fulfilled, inspected and settled directly through BAIC and we are reaping and seeing the benefits of having this organized program,” says Pickstock

Wholesalers specify their needed variety of crops, quantity, timelines, and standards to the program.

And December 2024 saw the first shipment of produce from the program arrive at wholesalers.

“Those were a shipment of cabbages, and again they met the standards, they met the quantities, the timelines, and we received those products and we were the middle entity to direct those products straight to the wholesalers. And so that is exciting for us and in the coming months we’re expecting even larger orders from wholesalers and I would strongly encourage farmers to prepare themselves to meet the growing demand,” says Pickstock