Nearly 30 principals, vice principals, guidance counselors and agriculture and marine teachers heard first-hand on Thursday of the curriculum at the Bahamas Agriculture & Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) and the sobering statistics about the country’s present agricultural state.
BAMSI President Dr. Godfrey Eneas headed a delegation to Grand Bahama and met with public and private school officials at the Foster B. Pestaina Centre Thursday morning to discuss why a programme like BAMSI is necessary and how high school graduates can benefit from it.
Dr. Eneas revealed that The Bahamas imports $1 billion in food annually and stressed that the country can no longer continue to do so as food security is a real issue, not only in The Bahamas, but the region.
BAMSI, which is headquartered in Andros, was birthed by government two years ago to raise the level of farms in The Bahamas, commercialize agriculture and create 10,000 new jobs in the industry.
“We are the only institute of its kind in the region. No other country, not even big countries like Cuba or the Dominican Republic has an institute like this. The main reason that sets us apart is our Marine Science Programme,” Dr. Eneas said.
“No Caribbean country has a Marine Science Programme like the one which is being developed by Dr. (Vallierre) Deleveux. We have already had requests from governments around the region to send their future marine scientists to us for training.”
The meeting was held in an effort to recruit potential high school students for the upcoming Fall Semester and establish a Grand Bahama-based tutorial and demonstration farm.
With 30,000 acres of arable land in East Grand Bahama, 50,000 acres in Abaco and another 184,000 acres in Andros, Dr. Eneas said there is great potential for the growth of the industry.
Dr. Raveenia Hanna, BAMSI Executive Director of the Academic Institute, said the school has quality teaching, several research projects, a careful balance of theory and practical and offers anywhere from short courses to Associates and Bachelors degrees.
BAMSI has articulation agreements and memorandums of understanding with institutions globally and supplies several stores, including Solomon’s and Super Value, with products such as bananas, papayas, onions and pineapples from its distribution centre on East Bay Street in New Providence.
The Institute’s first commencement exercise will take place this June. All of the graduates have been accepted to complete graduate studies abroad or have already been offered jobs.
BAMSI officials also met with members of the Grand Bahama Farmers Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd. and toured the potential site of tutorial farm, before returning to Andros.
