By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A senior agriculture official says Bahamians have “really gone off track” on food quality to such an extent that they are effectively “poisoning themselves” by eating inferior products.

Alaasis Braynen, the Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute’s (BAMSI) general manager, told Tribune Business in a recent interview that Bahamians too often consume items other countries will not allow in their own food chains with scant regard for the health and nutritional value.

“We have really gone off track in consuming frozen goods. We eat poultry frozen for months, years. We eat vegetables that come in half ripe with limited nutritional value,” he argued. “We are really eating a food chain other countries will not input.”

Mr Braynen told this newspaper that BAMSI, together with the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs and its other agencies, plans to do what it can to “encourage” Bahamian farmers and gardeners to meet the “eating fresh” challenge. He promised that Bahamians would soon “truly recognise the nutritious” value of tomatoes ripened on the vine, adding: “They’ll feel the difference”.

The BAMSI general manager added: “The reality is that what’s really damaging about the food chain we use is that it’s not just the cost of importing the food, and US dollars going out; it’s the health factor. We are suffering from hypertension, diabetes. These diseases are directly related to the inputs of our food.”

The Bahamas has long been viewed as vulnerable to so-called ‘dumping’, where producers in other countries export inferior-quality product to this nation in the absence of any legislative safeguards or protections conferred by being a member of rules-based trading regimes such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Mr Braynen said imported chicken was susceptible to having growth hormones and other antibodies “pumped” into them. “Once that’s opened up more to Bahamians, they can understand where the diseases come from,” he added. “All of the thighs and legs, those are by-products. We consume it as premium product. We pay a premium price and end up poisoning ourselves.”

The consumption of healthy, nutritious food is not the only agriculture-related area where The Bahamas has “gone off track”. Mr Braynen said the Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies had at times “forgotten who we serve”, but that was now being corrected by improved communications with farmers that ensure all inquiries are directed to where they can receive the necessary answers.

“My personal opinion is that over the years there’s been a disconnect between the farmers and the ministry, and we’ve forgotten who our primary customers are: The farmers,” he told Tribune Business. “The producers, the farmers, the fishermen: That’s why we exist. To serve them.

“The improved communication serves as a strengthening tool. Without communication, there’s no relationship. That communication is so helpful to our producers. We’ve connected with who we should be connected with. That’s how I feel.”

Tyrel Young, BAMSI’s chairman, said: “By 2030 I think we could bring down imports across the food spectrum by about 30-40 percent. If we continue to push as we are doing now, 30-40 percent by 2030. Some items such as eggs we will be self-sufficient in, and some other crops, but collectively 30-40 percent.

“That means a couple hundred million dollars remaining in our economy. Imagine what type of economic boost that is in The Bahamas; to keep that amount of dollars here instead of exporting them.”