As part of its commitment to nation building and the development of
a cadre of trained specialists within the field, The Bahamas Agriculture and
Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) is set to host its Inaugural Agricultural
Extension Training Programme, July 19 – 29 at its campus in North Andros. The
intensive two-week schedule, which will consist of hands-on field experience as
well as lectures by BAMSI faculty and University of Florida professors in Agriculture
Extension, is an important push for recent graduates who are set to take on the
role of professionally-trained extension officers by the end of the summer.
With a shift in the Government’s focus on Food and Nutrition
Security, the provision of trained agriculturalist will ensure the attainment
of the goal as well as the sustainability of this nation’s environment thereby supporting
the government’s efforts to bolster food security measures across the
archipelago. Godfrey Eneas, President of BAMSI and The Bahamas Ambassador to
the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, said the objective of this exercise, and ongoing educational
opportunities offered by BAMSI, is to revitalize an Agricultural Section which
had declined in acreage in production from about 90,000 acres in 1978 to about
10,000 acres in 2012.
He explained that in 2012, 200 persons were employed within the
Ministry of Agriculture, but only ten per cent of that number were
professionally trained. What perhaps served as an even greater detriment to the
forward movement of agriculture in the Bahamas was that of the 200, nearly 90
per cent were located in New Providence – an alarming statistic when it is
considered that a significant majority of farmers live and farm in the Family
Islands.
These front-line professionals will drive the expansion of the
Sector by providing technical expertise through the transfer of innovative
technologies thereby improving the competitiveness of the small farmer,
specifically those who are members of the Associated Farmers’ Programme.
The course is not only open recent graduates and students nearing
the completion of their degree programme but also to agencies like BAIC and
Department of Agriculture as they have been invited to attend. The accredited
course, which will be led by extension and integrated pest management
specialists from the University of Florida, will be offered on a yearly basis
going forward and those who successfully complete the session will receive a
certificate. Along with the knowledge gained over the course of two years of
study, these two weeks will serve as an orientation period before they move into
the field. Participants will be placed on Family Islands – from Eleuthera to
Abaco and particularly the southern islands – under the tutelage of senior
extension officers, a number of whom have been recruited from Trinidad.
“The aim is to place our graduates in all of our
islands with the view of developing farmer’s groups in every island, and nationally
a network of farmers who over time can position themselves as a powerful lobby
so that the needs of the Bahamian farmer will never again be neglected or forgotten,”
Mr. Eneas said