Tomorrow agriculture officials will host a one day exhibition at Arawak Cay in a bid to further drive home the importance of countries like The Bahamas doing more to promote food security.

October 16 is observed as World Food Day and Minister of Agriculture V. Alfred Gray announced recently that The Bahamas has been making steps to ensure that it does its part in reducing the number of hungry people in the world.

“World Hunger today affects one billion people,” he said. “Investment in agriculture will turn this situation around. Today nearly one in seven people are undernourished in a world that has the means to eliminate hunger and fuel sustainable development.

“It is generally recognised that smallholders will provide much of the extra food needed to feed the world population anticipated to reach nine billion by 2050.”

Mr. Gray said agricultural cooperatives and producer organisations play a pivotal role in achieving food security and reducing poverty.

“Approximately one billion worldwide are members of cooperatives,” Minister Gray said. “Here in The Bahamas, currently we have three agricultural cooperatives, one in New Providence, one in Abaco and one in Grand Bahama.

“There are also several youth cooperatives which serve to expose our youth to the cooperative model.”

The exhibition at Arawak Cay will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and will include booths and a backyard gardening workshop.