By Annelia Nixon

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute’s (BAMSI) general manager is calling on Chambers of Commerce to help turn Long Island farmers’ operations into businesses and grow the economy.

Deon Gibson, speaking at the Long Island Business Outlook, said farmers miss money-generating opportunities because they do not view their operations as a business.

“I was a little disappointed this morning at breakfast,” Mr Gibson said. “I buy hot sauce everywhere I go in the world. I bought hot sauce here before many times. And, at breakfast, I had to use some cheap, watered down foreign product. 

“It's a personal goal or dream of mine that every time we walk into a Bahamian restaurant, we should see a Bahamian pepper sauce on the table. And Long Islanders have long been in the value-added products and processing of food. I buy jams. I got some star fruit jam when I was at Mutton Fest last year. It's a delight. I have it home. I use it on my toaster regularly,” he added. 

“But I would encourage the Long Island Chamber of Commerce, and I guess by extension, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, to reach out to some of the farmers that you know. See how we can help them to develop their farming operation into a business that can not only bring revenue, but build up this economy, as we know that it was very much one time ago heavily based on agriculture and fisheries.

“Now, marine resources is the number one economic driver here in Long Island. And with the increase in tourists that we know are coming once the airport is finished and, as Mr Burrows would have stated, you have an extra 1,200 - I think it's more than that, maybe about 2,000 people who come every year for regatta - that's an extra 2,000 people that need to be fed.” 

Mr Gibson pointed to other agricultural business opportunities including the export of wild hogs to other islands. He noted that Long Island has an issue with the amount of wild hogs, and has gotten hog traps specifically for the island. Unable to disclose an exact date, he said two hog traps will be sent to Long Island before the end of the year. Once captured, the hogs can be sent to New Providence for sale, he added.

“A lady told me earlier that people are tired eating it [wild hogs],” Mr Gibson said. “Send it to Nassau. There's a market for it. That's a product you can export to New Providence that persons will buy. A lot of the jerk people, our Haitian community like it because it's lean, but it also has a good amount of fat. We'll look at how the management of those traps will go, but that is something that someone can manage it, and the funds can be utilised or sent right back here to Long Island.

“I know that the hogs are a first step. The traps only cost $500. The Government is providing two to the island, but I think that others can step in and maybe get some as well, so that you can try to mitigate the problem. It's a huge problem; not just here. Andros doesn't have as much issues because their hogs are way off from where people are, and they don't tend to bother with the farms too much.

“But Inagua has a serious issue as well as they're eating the... flamingos and sometimes eating the eggs. And so these invasive species have to be controlled, but the only way we can control it is with the collective support of everyone.”

Mr Gibson is also working to encourage the Government to invest in a kill-floor in Long Island. He said once farmers are at a level where they are slaughtering sufficient animals and producing enough meat, a vet can visit Long Island to examine and verify that the meat is safe to be distributed commercially.

He said Long Island has the hair sheep, which no other island in The Bahamas and few in the region have. Mr Gibson said he has spoken to representatives from New Zealand while serving as director of agriculture about genetics and making the sheep a globally-recognised breed.

“And so that would put us, along with St Croix, which has a breed of sheep, a few breeds of sheep, the Barbados black belly and Jamaica, who are several breeds of cattle,” Mr Gibson said. “And I think that's something that we need to work on, to hone and to own, because it's not an easy thing to come up with a breed, and I think it's kind of happened by accident.

“But now it's time to make it intentional and preserve the genetics of this hardy breed, which could probably go around the world as a top meat sheep, and it's ideal for our climate.”

Mr Gibson said he has seen many photos of flooded banana farms on Long Island in Hurricane Melissa’s aftermath. He encouraged farmers to register with the Department of Agriculture, which grants access to benefits and subsidies that come through the Government.