NASSAU, Bahamas -- BAIC officials and North Andros farmers tour Lucayan Tropical’s hydroponic greenhouse operation. (BIS photo/Derek Smith)

NASSAU, Bahamas -- North Andros farmers were given a tour of Lucayan Tropical’s modern seven-acre hydroponic greenhouse farm system on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Agriculture, and Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC) want to set up a greenhouse park in North Andros as part of the government’s thrust in food security.

“We want to share our ideas with them to see how they might work to produce a variety of crops in Andros that we can sell on the Nassau market,” said Tim Hauber, general manager and grower at Lucayan Tropical.

NASSAU, Bahamas -- North Andros Farmers Association officials Caleb Evans (right) and Cecil Gaitor have a few words over tomato clippings. (BIS Photo/Derek Smith)

The North Andros delegation included Farmers Association president Cecil Gaitor, vice president Caleb Evans, Samuel Fowler and Lovely Rahming.

They were accompanied by BAIC executive chairman Edison M Key and his team, and representatives from the Nassau farming community.

“Our state-of-the-art glass greenhouse allows us to control many factors of the environment thus allowing us to produce vegetables more efficiently and more per square foot,” said Hauber.

Lucayan’s system does not use soil. Vegetables are grown in a substrate. Nutrients are provided in the water.

NASSAU, Bahamas -- BAIC executive chairman Edison M Key (left) and North Andros farmer Lovely Rahming discuss greenhouse technology. (BIS photo/Derek Smith)

“This is one way of responding to poor soil conditions in The Bahamas - going to hydroponics,” Hauber said. “Here, we can quadruple what an average farmer can do.”

A “justified” concern of buyers, he said, has been the inconsistency of supply of local produce.

“I am game to buy local produce,” he explained, “but once I buy from you for about three or four weeks, it just disappears. That doesn’t do me any good. I have a hundred people coming for dinner, I need tomatoes every night.

“So, that has been a struggle on the Bahamian agricultural scene. A greenhouse would allow you to be more consistent. It’s not a miracle cure but its one more tool we can use here.”

Farmers Association president, Gaitor, found the tour “very exciting. It showed us that with a greenhouse operation we can increase our yield and we can extend the season on certain crops that can easily be grown in North Andros.”