“We expect to see greater inflow to this sector”
IICA rep says organization ready to serve The Bahamas and just getting started
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources and the Tourism Development Corporation (TDC) will this week host bilateral talks with the Inter-American Institute for Corporation in Agriculture (IICA) to develop exciting programmes to enhance agritourism in The Bahamas.
The aim of the collaboration is to provide local producers with opportunities to develop a range of agricultural products that will link to tourism.
In a recent television interview on Brazil’s national syndicated TV show “Agro Americá”, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Michael Pintard said: “One of the challenges is to take the easy road by satisfying the demand for food that tourists have, and the easy road is to simply import from other jurisdictions to supply that demand.
“The wisest and the most advisable route, however, is to increase local production of the items demanded by tourists and in that way, you diversify your economy, you increase wealth and generate much-needed employment.”
This month, the government is expected to break ground on an agro-village, which is loosely modeled on a collaboration at IICA’s headquarters in Costa Rica between the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and Microsoft to create a smart farm. The village will include a weather station and irrigation system.
Pintard said: “We expect to see greater inflow to this sector that has been challenged in terms of having data. The agro-village will also enable us to mentor and guide these agribusiness persons to scale up their operations to a global stage and Brazil can play a pivotal role in this regard, and so we will have discussions about how we benefit from technical assistance from that powerful institution.”
TDC Executive Director Janet Johnson, who also participated in the interview, said that while the idea of agritourism is fairly new, initiatives are already underway to provide linkages between hotels and agricultural producers.
“We are also talking with the chefs and food and beverage directors in the hotels” she said.
“[We] have challenged them to increase the ratio of purchases from the local farmers and we want to see a lot more of that. This has helped to drive a new level of enthusiasm among the farmers and I think that some of the initiatives that the Ministry of Agriculture is taking is going to be very beneficial for the economy and for the local Bahamian farmer.”
Johnson added that TDC is also looking to develop tours to farms to increase agritourism, such as pineapple farms on Eleuthera, mutton on Long Island and cascarilla trees on Acklins.
The IICA has also initiated bilateral talks with Minister of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar, Pintard and Brazil’s Minister of Tourism Gilson Machado next week.
IICA Representative in The Bahamas Mari Dunleavy said she expects the talks to be productive.
“Whether coordinating high-level official dialogue with Brazil — a country that spent over $17 billion in international travel pre-COVID — to helping Bahamian farmers increase their farm production and quality standards, to leveraging IICA to collaborate with TDC to agritourism opportunities for The Bahamas and even offering scholarships to Bahamian students, IICA is ready to serve The Bahamas and we are just getting started,” she said.
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