Above: Exuma farmer Bernard Rolle at a melon farm (BIS Photo/Gladstone Thurston)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Bahamas’ move to emphasize agriculture, especially in islands like Abaco and Exuma, received a boost last week when the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation gave Exuma farmers ploughing equipment to prepare for the winter vegetable season.

“We will do whatever we can to help you succeed in increasing food production, which could only be a good thing for our nation,” said Edison Key, chairman of BAIC.

Key and his team visited Exuma last weekend to investigate land preparation on the island, which has received a distribution of fruit trees and banana and plantain suckers from BAIC.

According to John Rolle, president of the Exuma Farmers Association, the island is “on the verge of being self-sufficient again.”

“Exuma is on the move,” he said. “As an association, we are going to assist the farmers as best we can through our farm stores where seeds, fertilizer, chemicals and other farm items can be obtained.”

The Bahamas has been making an effort to expand agriculture in the country, from renewed efforts for organic farming to encouraging young Bahamians to consider agriculture as a career.