By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas imports about $1bn worth of food products, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard told the House of Assembly yesterday.

He said the country has the ability to reduce the bill by some $200m if it focuses more on local production and export.

“Mr Speaker, we are importing today roughly $1bn worth of food, $600 million or so fresh fruits, vegetables, proteins such as beef, pork, sheep and goat and poultry—both egg and meat. Another $400m in value added food products that are in our food stores, processed foods,” the minister said.

“The studies we’ve conducted over time clearly indicate that we have the ability to grow many of the items that we presently consume.

“. . .They all in separate ways conclude that there are a number of items that we do have the ability to produce and through import substitutions, through producing locally and buying locally, we have the ability over the course of the next two to three years, with focus, to cut into the billion dollar food bill by not less than $200m dollars.”

He also explained that with the help of the private sector, the nation can save “additional funding”.

Mr Pintard made the remarks while delivering his contribution to the 2021/2022 budget, where he also spoke on several ongoing initiatives at his ministry to improve services at the agency like its Agro-Village.

“The Agro-Village is a cluster of smart farms, that is various productive systems, some persons producing fruit, some producing vegetables, seasonings, bush tea, etc. . .all of these productive systems, processed food, processed drinks, all of them working in one village,” the minister said.

“So, Cabinet has approved that we will produce six Agro-Villages on six different islands in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”

He also noted officials from the Marine Resources Department have also been working with relevant stakeholders on several new projects for data collection purposes and also to stamp out illegal fishing practices.

Mr Pintard said: “One, we are now running a pilot that’s funded by our partners to put vessel monitoring systems on board small and larger vessels to determine which of the three we have works best and the goal really is that if a ship or vessel is in distress, we need to know where they are.

“So, we need a vessel monitoring system. Also, we want to understand the pattern of behaviours of those persons, our licensed fishers, in terms of their movement. We want to make sure persons are not going into marine protected areas.

“We’re also working on a marine action plan, again so that all of the enforcement agencies that are working in tandem with each other to make sure we’re sharing information and assisting in stamping out illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing.”

In his speech, the Marco City MP also explained that next year, there will be “zero export of conch,” deeming the move as a precautionary measure.

“We do not believe we have the quantity sufficient to secure us for the future unless we take action now,” he said.

Mr Pintard also went on to refer to certain provisions made in the Fisheries Bill 2020 that excludes foreign spouses of Bahamians from commercial fishing, again reiterating that the government wants to preserve an area of the economy exclusively for the benefit of Bahamians.

Some have taken legal action against the provisions made in the Bill, with Mr Pintard calling recent court challenges against it “unsuccessful”.

The FNM MP also welcomed “another action” which he says the government knows is coming.

He told the House of Assembly: “We made a determination that so important, so challenged and at risk is Bahamian patrimony that we needed to reserve it for Bahamians. That caused a bit of controversy. It is my understanding that a recent challenge was made in court that did not succeed relative to the position we took.

“We know that there is another action that’s coming and we certainly welcome that and we maintain that what we ought to do in this government system is speed up the process of anybody who applies to make sure that no family is disadvantaged in terms of their status.”

Mr Pintard added: “However, we also reserve the right that in areas where there are scarce resources, being exploited, persons pursuing loopholes, that we reserve to dedicate a sector for Bahamians.

“We believe in an open economy. The Bahamas by and large is an open economy, but there are certain things we ought to carve out for us and we make no apologies for that dimension of it and so I wish to salute the Department of Marine Resources for the stellar work they have done.”