Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources and Member of Parliament for Centreville, the Hon. Jomo Campbell officially opened the Centreville Community Farm on Wednesday. The project was made possible by a partnership between the Agricultural Development Organization and Royal Caribbean Group Foundation which made a $75,000 investment.

Minister Campbell delivered remarks during the ceremony, held at the farm on Fritz Lane. He told attendees, “for too long many communities across our nation have depended heavily on imported food but initiatives like this help us to move forward toward a more resilient and food secure Bahamas. We pledge $10,000 in a grant and in addition to that we also pledge a further $5,000 in vouchers for our fish and farm store for the acquisition of agriculture equipment.”

The minister also spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the event about a report by the Perry Institute that revealed that several marine species including the Nassau Grouper, Snapper, Spiny Lobster and Conch as experiencing a decline in numbers. Campbell said, “what we first have to establish based on our findings is, in fact, whether there is over fishing and in what sectors. As you know in relation to Spiny Lobster and also fish, Nassau Group in particular, and so we want to get all the data so we can have science based driven facts to put to the nation.”

The Centreville Community Farm launch is part of a broader mission to establish community farms throughout the country.