Above: a banana plant

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica recently played host to a delegation of agricultural officials from the Bahamas.

The Bahamian delegation, which visited from July 23 to July 25, met with Jamaican agricultural officials including Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke, with an eye toward opening agricultural schools in the Bahamas modeled on those in Jamaica.

The Bahamas has been pushing to increase agriculture in the 700-island archipelago, as part of a wider regional move to ensure food security.

Clarke said the Bahamas had recognized that it does not have an agricultural institution like those in Jamaica.

“What they want to do is establish some institutions that can provide training for their young people and entrepreneurs who want to get into the agricultural sector,” he said. “They thought that the best place to come and look was Jamaica.”

The Bahamas visited Jamaica’s College of Agriculture, Science and Education in Portland and the Ebony Park Heart Academy in Clarendon.

“They tell me that the experience they have gained, looking at the two institutions, has given them an idea as to what kind of institution they can put in place in the Bahamas,” he said.