NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The Bahamas Agriculture Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) will be introducing a new six-week programme which is aimed at providing persons who are tied down to a daily 9 to 5 the opportunity to participate in flexible online courses and a one-week hands-on experience at the institution’s Andros campus.
“It’s part online and the final week is an intense period of practical experience at BAMSI,” Dr. Rovenia Hanna, Executive Director of BAMSI explained.
Dr. Hanna revealed that BAMSI has decided to venture into new territory to attract more persons to the institute to learn the importance of farming, food sustainability and food security.
“A lot of persons are interested in trying to learn various aspects of agriculture, but they are locked down to a job or other obligations; this programme allows them to utilize distance learning to grasp the theory behind the industry,” Dr. Hanna said.
“The final week of the programme, the hands-on experience, will provide participants with the ability to really see, first-hand, what it takes to really get into various aspects of farming.”
The hands-on experience will include agriculture, aquaculture, hydroponics, aquaponics and in the end, teach students to successfully launch backyard farming initiatives.
The program has 50 subscribers to date.
“We’ve been getting so many calls of interest form persons who are working or otherwise engaged and they are really interested in learning the basics of agriculture and want that paper to really prove their worth,” Dr. Hanna said.
Dr. Hanna said the institute, through introducing new programs like the flexi-choice program, positions the institution to fulfill its mandate of ensuring food security nationwide.
“It’s important that we reach our mandate because even though we are physically rooted in Andros our goal is to cover the entire Bahamas and it is important that we reach all persons because food is important for what we eat and the health and wealth of our nation so we take that mandate very seriously,” Dr. Hanna said.
Interested persons are encouraged to visit www.bamsibahamas.com to register.
