Above: Edison Key, left and Donna Bromfield (BIS Photo/Gladstone Thurston)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Bahamas is continuing its agricultural push, now with a focus on turning locally-sourced fruits and vegetables into food byproducts.

Last week, the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation concluded a month-long course on the subject, training participants from five of the country’s Family Islands.

The course was led by Donna Marie Bromfield, secretary of the Jamaica Agro Processors Association, and vice president of Jamaica’s National Food Standards Committee.

It’s not the first time Jamaica has helped the Bahamas on agriculture. Indeed, last month, the Bahamas sourced a large quantity of Jamaican coconuts to promote growth within the country.

“They were all very receptive,” said Bromfield, a longtime expert in food processing. “They are all eager to go. They are poised to take off.”

Some of the products created in the workshop ranged from ketchup and tomato jam to pizza sauce and lime juice.

“It was a total package we had for them, but for anyone who is now going to say ‘I want to do this further’ would need specialised attention,” she said.

The BAIC has conducted several similar workshops, counting agro-processing as a crucial element in the government’s food security drive.

“I see a lot of promise,” said BAIC executive chairman Edison Key. “Food processing is something we are really trying to move again here in the Bahamas.”

The Bahamas, which Key said imports up to $500 million worth of food each year, has been working of late to promote locally sourced agriculture, like Coconuts, and organic farming, in places like North Andros.