Weekend rains in North Andros have wreaked havoc on various crops. Farmers were inundated with 2.36 inches of rainfall on Sunday, causing fields to be flooded. Crop losses are expected to be high, particularly with vegetables such as cabbages and cucumbers on the research and demonstration farm of the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI).
A bumper harvest of onions was expected from the institute's Associated Farmers Programme (AFP), which is the flagship of its Outreach/Extension Unit.
The unpredictability of the weather patterns in the Northern Bahamas has made it necessary for BAMSI to consider greater regional diversity in its food production system by increasing production in Southeast Bahamas. The institute has embarked on the establishment of a network of greenhouses on various islands in the southeast, namely Eleuthera, Long Island, Exuma, Cat Island and MICAL. The program will commence on Eleuthera next month.
The greenhouse network will provide on-island farming communities with a range of vegetable seedling planting material, as well as banana suckers, to restart commercial banana production on these islands.
Climate change is emerging as a major threat to agricultural production in The Bahamas. The institute is introducing climate smart technologies to address this issue. Climate smart agriculture encompasses "the scientific fields of meteorology, climatology, remote sensory, modeling and agricultural statistics". New drought resistant and salt tolerant varieties have been developed for various crops in conjunction with new technologies such as elevating plots and building water retention systems.

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