BAMSI Youth Engagement to Build Food Security
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 on developing an entrepreneurial spirit.
Leslie Brace, Manager of BAMSI’s Sustainable Tourism programme and founder and coordinator of the Soil to Supper Program, 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 the 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.
After a brief hiatus during the COVID lockdown when the college went virtual, the Soil to Supper program resumed in 2023 with Edward Martin, Primary School Guidance Counsellor for the Andros and Berry Islands District, at the helm. “The program is connecting students to their environment; planting, growing and harvesting crops; promoting healthy eating habits; teamwork; problem solving & responsibility; while developing leadership skills and building their self-confidence,” he said.
Mr. Martin is currently working with teachers and students of Roselda Woodside Primary, Mastic Point, and Clara Evans, Nicoll’s Town, and has launched the program at Bertram A. Newton Primary, Red Bays.
Introduced in 2018 at the Mastic Point and Stafford Creek Primary Schools, the Soil to Supper program is facilitated by students in BAMSI’s associate degree programmes in collaboration with primary school students and teachers. To date the program has been launched in six primary schools in both North and Central Andros.
Boris and students of Bertram A. Newton Primary School, Red Bays 2023
Clara Evans Primary Boys & Girls Club participate in Soil to Supper 2023
Clara Evans Primary, Nicoll's Town 2023
Roselda Woodside Primary, Mastic Point 2023
Bertram A. Newton Primary, Red Bays, 2023
Stafford Creek Primary School, 2020
Clara Evans Primary School, 2019
Roselda Woodside Primary, Mastic Point, 2019
Stafford Creek Primary, 2018
