BAMSI Youth Engagement to Build Food Security

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Students The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute’s (BAMSI)) Soil to Supper program.

Nassau, Bahamas, March 27 th , 2024 – THE Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute’s (BAMSI)) Soil to Supper program is focused on nurturing young minds and cultivating an appreciation for the wealth of foods grown in Bahamian soil that are used to create our favourite and most flavourful dishes. The youngest students get an opportunity to touch, feel, water, plant, cultivate and harvest produce that they then see deliciously transformed…from the soil to the supper table, all with an emphasis o developing an entrepreneurial spirit.

Programme Coordinator Leslie Brace said the Soil to Supper initiative was launched to introduce the agriculture industry to the nation’s primary school children.

“The program helps students make the connection between the science of growing food and how the plants we grow end up in stores and on our plates,”

Ms. Brace explained. “Students learn to appreciate that agriculture is a science and farming is a business. Food crops are grown at school farm plots, then harvested, sold or cooked. At the end of the school’s growing season students visit BAMSI’s campus and farm in North Andros to share their experiences and enjoy a meal that includes fresh vegetables from the farm.”

For BAMSI President Dr. Raveenia Roberts Hanna, the program provides a unique platform for the Institute to nurture not only seeds and soil, but th sprit and skills of these budding agriculturalists. “The program instills the knowledge, the science and the art of agriculture into the lives of Bahamian youth. It is our hope that the seeds in them will spring forth much fruit,” Dr. Hanna said.