By KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, Guardian Senior Reporter, kdl@nasguard.com

A former agriculture minister said yesterday that at least 70 percent of the vegetables Bahamians consume can be grown in the Family Islands.

"Onions, tomatoes, cabbages, celery, lettuce, all of these things we can grow here, and there is really no reason for us to import them," said Tennyson Wells, a former minister in the Ingraham-led administration. He was a guest on the afternoon radio talk show 'Jeffrey', which airs on STAR 106.5, hosted by Jeffrey Lloyd.

"We have demonstrated over the years that the country can grow citrus. There are citrus farms in Abaco and Grand Bahama and there are some citrus farms — grapefruit farms in North Andros. All of these things are possible but you need government support," Wells said.

However, he noted that today the government would not even put in place and insist on the proper transportation system to encourage the marketing of the products that are grown and can be grown in the Family Islands.

The former minister said there is a need for an organized system of shipping, equipped with coolers, refrigerated containers plying from Inagua and stopping off at all of the islands on a regular basis straight through to Grand Bahama every week.

"We continue to support an antiquated mailboat system throughout the Family islands. All of those boat owners should be encouraged to come together and get maybe two boats that go from Nassau and stop to every island picking up all the produce, whether it be fishery products, fresh vegetables, meats," he explained

Wells said this will be a gradual process, but first the government needed to buy into the idea.

"But if the government was prepared to commit to maybe the shipping industry to deal with this, maybe two ships $5-$10 million, but if they were prepared to commit that kind of money to the transportation of the produce grown on all of the islands — fish, poultry, citrus, bananas, meat — so they could drop them off on the islands and we wouldn't be bringing in coconuts from down in Jamaica or root crops from down in Latin America."

His statement came on the heels of Agriculture Minister Larry Cartwright's announcement that the government has several incentives in place to encourage Bahamian farmers to supply food staples in the country.

"The government will always assist people in their agricultural venture through various programs such as duty concessions," said Cartwright.

Responding to the current food crisis, which is affecting the world, Cartwright said that aggressive measures may have to be taken in order to encourage local farming.

"There are many persons who may want to get into agriculture, so we have to do things to encourage that," said Cartwright.

He disclosed recently that The Bahamas may soon have to start producing its own rice in order to meet the demands of its citizens. This came as U.S. bulk retailers began rationing the sale of large bags of rice to consumers amid a growing global food crisis marked by skyrocketing prices and heavy pressure on demand.