Gladstone Road Farmers Market may very well be island’s best kept secret

Much has been said over many years about the need to improve food security and Bahamians’ access to healthy, naturally grown food, but The Bahamas remains way off in achieving that goal.

There is a lack of a competitive market for agriculture in The Bahamas, largely based on the nation’s dependency on imported goods.

Farmers and vendors who operate from the Gladstone Road Farmers Market in New Providence on weekends are just a handful of Bahamians who are working tirelessly to make the goal of food sustainability a reality.

Stepping through the front gate of the farmers market, the first stand on the left belongs to Jetta Rolle.

Rolle has a farm on Cowpen Road west where she grows a long list of healthy vegetables and leafy greens.

“In Exuma, I’m trying to really start the fruit area,” she said.

However, buyers seek out Rolle’s market stand for two products in particular.

“People come to me for my cauliflower and broccoli,” she explained.

“Last year, my cauliflower were going at $8,” she said with pride, noting that some had weighed up to seven pounds.

“Probably by March, I’ll have purple, yellow, and green,” she said of her famous cauliflower.

Rolle said that the market has grown “a little bit” over the years, “but not to the capacity that [she] would like it to be”.

“We need more farmers. And we need more vendors,” she said.

According to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAOSTAT), about 90 percent of The Bahamas’ food supply is imported.

The 2017 National Food & Nutrition Security Policy And Agenda For Action For The Commonwealth of The Bahamas explains how, “high food import bills [have] resulted in loss of employment opportunities, underemployment in rural communities, neglect of rural infrastructure, and increasing rural-urban migration.”

That document notes that the food import bill grew rapidly from US$232.37 million in 1995 to US$ 610 million in 2015.

It said estimates suggested that the country’s import bill was approaching US$1 billion and is projected to more than double by 2025.

Many local farmers find it difficult to grow and sell their crops competitively.

Carolyn Humes is another Bahamian farmer who sells her goods every weekend at the Gladstone Road Farmers Market.

Her farm is located in Andros.

Being the largest island in The Bahamas, Andros also has the greatest amount of land dedicated to agriculture.

It is no wonder then that Humes’ vendor stand was one of the largest and most abundant at the farmers market.

Humes explained how during the pandemic, she was able to continue selling some of her produce.

“A lot of people would still come to the farm,” she said.

Farmer Vincent Cartwright’s market table is located in the back-left corner of the farmers market.

His farm is located in Fox Hill.

Cartwright said he started farming when he was just five.

Cartwright grows pineapples among other fruits and vegetables in New Providence.

Because New Providence doesn’t have the nutrient-dense red clay soil like Eleuthera, Cartwright makes his own.

“I make my own soil from dead trees. I get a mulch machine and I grind that up fine as I could like sawdust and that’s what my plants grow off,” he said.

Also farming for as long as she can recall is Ophelia Dawkins.

Dawkins has two farms: one in Cat Island where she was born and raised, and another in Coral Harbour in New Providence.

Her grandparents taught her how to farm and she explained that it wasn’t exactly an option as to whether or not she learned.

“When they go, you have to go,” Dawkins said of her grandparents.

Dawkins also said that sales have not been the best recently.

“Since we’ve been opening on Fridays, hardly no one is coming out here,” she said.

“Because it’s a Saturday, people are starting to come again, but on Friday…”

“A lot of people don’t even know we’re out here. I think that is the reason,” she said.

During weekend lockdowns on New Providence, the market had been closed on Saturdays.

Dawkins explained how so many buyers who came to her stand admitted that the only reason they came that day was because they just so happened to drive past the farmers market and decided to stop by.

“We need to advertise,” she said.

“The Bahamian people need to know more about what we’re doing. They need to put more healthy foods into their bodies,” Dawkins said.

By nature, Bahamians tend to consume an unhealthy diet.

From deep fried cracked conch to cheesy macaroni and peas and rice, so much of the food that is consumed on a regular basis is severely lacking in nutrients.

“They don’t believe in that,” said Dawkins, pointing to the natural brown markings on a banana.

“They want everything nicely painted. Someone needs to teach Bahamians.”

In the 2013 Bahamas Household Expenditure Survey, 58.5 percent of respondents reported to have eaten vegetables at least once the day prior to being interviewed. For those who had consumed vegetables, the average level of consumption was one per day.

According to a 2017 study published in the scientific journal The Lancet, humans avoid cardiovascular mortality and total mortality at the highest rates when eating three to four servings of fruits and vegetables every day (375-500g).

While The Bahamas is far from achieving total food sustainability, farmers at the market believe that by supporting their farms, and even engaging themselves in backyard farming, more Bahamians would improve access to healthy and affordable foods.

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