Harvesting a $60 million slice of the domestic food market is the aim of a new venture being developed by Bahamas Ferries designed to foster the growth of Family Island farmers.

The company has been in talks with around 10 of the islands' major food producers, particularly in Eleuthera and Andros, and is to meet with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) over its plans to create a dedicated farmers market at its site at Potter's Cay.

As part of the initiative, food producers would be offered discounted rates to transport their goods to the site in Nassau where they could then sell their wares wholesale to retailers.

Khaalis Rolle, chief marketing officer for Bahamas Ferries, said this could put an end to thousands of dollars worth of produce going to waste and rotting away in warehouses.

He also said that it was estimated the move could help Family Island farmers capture around 25 percent of the food import market into The Bahamas, which stands at $250 million annually at present.

He told The Nassau Guardian: "It is a travesty that produce is going to waste and we think we can help bring about a better solution.

"There are farmers in the Family Islands who have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in their ventures, but up to 60 percent of the crop can sometimes sit in warehouses because there is no demand locally.

"What we want to do is create a dedicated space at our Potter's Cay facility for a farmers market and foster a business to business environment where they can sell their wares. It's not a retail business, rather somewhere for retailers to come and buy direct from the Family Island farmers."

There have been increasing calls for the country to embrace and modernize its agriculture, with organizations such as the Bahamas Hotel Association saying a quality home-grown industry could help hotels shave thousands off their food bills, promoting cost savings and protect jobs in tourism with it.

Rolle said: "There have been a number of issues which have held agriculture back, partly it has been due to the transportation cost and partly poor marketing which has not been effective in joining up supply with demand.

"We believe this is a worthwhile venture to pursue. We'll be charging a reduced rate to farmers to ship their products. Charging full retail rate would defeat the purpose, and we'll help with the marketing.

"Initially we'll be focusing primarily on Eleuthera and Andros as we have done a lot of groundwork with them already on this project, but we will look at Exuma and Abaco too.

"There are two reasons why this is important - look at the food import levels into The Bahamas. That is the potential market and we estimate we could raise the domestically grown contribution to 25 percent. Secondly there is the food security question. Can we feed ourselves if we needed too?

"Also the quicker the farmers can get their products to market the better the quality and the better the response to their wares."

One of the major partners Bahamas Ferries is in talks with is the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), which is a specialized agency of the Inter-American System, and its purpose is to encourage and support the efforts of its Member States to achieve agricultural development and well-being for rural populations.

Recently it said that developing a different strategy in The Bahamas was the first step to reduce the nation's $250 million food import bill.

IICA's Marikis Alvarez said that a new route had to be taken in order to minimize the spending on imports, which greatly exceeded the figure for export sales.

He said: "As the price of food increased, along with the reaction of both the public and private sector to stimulate local production [it has] resulted in more interest in agriculture.

"The aim of encouraging greater participation by individuals in the production of food is being gradually realized."

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