By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation’s (BAIC) chairman yesterday said it plans to create a park for farmers interested in banana and plantain production.

Leroy Major, speaking at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between BAIC and the Small Business Development Centre (SBDC), said the initiative is part of the drive to make The Bahamas more “self-sufficient” through increased domestic food production.

“So we’re going to create a park where we will give land to more farmers who are interested in being a part of this project,” he added of banana and plantain farming. Mr Major added that BAIC will also be “capitalising” on the so-called ‘orange economy’ by holding more workshops and conferences targeted at artists and other cultural entrepreneurs.

He said: “What we want to do now is we want our people, our artisans, to take advantage of what we have in this country. We want to get those artisans and those processors who make lotions and shampoos; we want to get them into the hotels. When they go on Bay Street and at the Straw Market, we want to see more Bahamian products in the Straw Market.”

BAIC has established a unit to deal with the “mobility” of these projects so Bahamians can soon begin to see the benefits of the agency’s efforts.

As for the SBDC MoU’s signing, Mr Major added: “While BAIC serves as the business arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources to encourage the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the country, the SBDC is the Government agency responsible for assessing loan applications for small and medium-sized businesses seeking government guarantees.

“We have provided entrepreneurs with land for farming and touristic development, and assisted with business plans for their projects. But many of them continue to be challenged because of lack of funding.

“SBDC will now step in and play a critical role in providing prospective small and medium-sized business loan applicants with critical seed money to assist in the advancement and overall development of entrepreneurship in the country.”

Samantha Rolle, the SBDC’s executive director, said the partnership with BAIC dated to 2019 when the two agencies signed their first MoU to help craft business plans for entrepreneurs. This partnership grew to provide support and advisory services for agricultural and handicraft products.

Ms Rolle said: “I am elated to see the collaboration between BAIC and SBDC come full circle as we signed another Memorandum of Understanding to take our relationship one step further towards ensuring that we can now stimulate entrepreneurs with much-needed financial assistance almost seamlessly.”