Royal Caribbean International has donated more than 400 backyard farming kits to the Agricultural Development Organization (ADO), a non-profit entity that works closely with government agencies and churches to address food security concerns and to advance farming at every level throughout The Bahamas. The farming kits are already getting into the hands of locals at community events, which started on Monday, Oct. 30, at the Fox Hill Community Centre. The second giveaway will be scheduled for a later date, with more information to come from ADO.
In just two years, ADO has provided seeds and resources, including farming mentors, to create more than 2,000 backyard farms in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera and Abaco, The Bahamas. Many of those kits went to first-time farmers and high school students from Bahamas Academy, Faith Temple Christian Academy and R.M. Bailey Senior High School. ADO is also working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Family Island Affairs and The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) to introduce more community farms at schools, parks, church yards and other places.
“For 50 years, we have remained a committed partner to The Bahamas, and we are happy to support the communities that have been so welcoming throughout the years as they seek to create greater food security through farming,” said Philip Simon, president of Royal Beach Club at Paradise Island and general manager Royal Caribbean International Bahamas.
“We are extremely grateful to Royal Caribbean for joining us on this critical path to greater food security,” said Philip Smith, executive chairman, Agricultural Development Organization. “Royal Caribbean has consistently been an amazing partner to the Bahamian community, and I’m pleased that they are supporting our mission to re-learn what I like to call ‘the culture of agriculture.’ The Bahamas was once a nation of proud farmers and fishers, and I believe the desire to farm is still in our DNA.”
Royal Caribbean is dedicated to the economic development of The Bahamas and its people through its SEA the Future commitment to energize the communities it visits. That show of community support has ranged from supporting causes such as the ADO, the Bahamas Feeding Network and the STEM for Oceans programs to sponsoring the Royal Caribbean Music Makers Junkanoo group, donating an ambulance and the construction of a community Centre that can double as a hurricane shelter in the Berry Islands where it is the largest employer.
For more information on how Royal Caribbean supports economic development and celebrates local cultures in meaningful ways, please visit www.RoyalCaribbeanGroup.com/SEAtheFuture.
Jomo Campbell show one of 200 backyard farming kits distributed this week as the first half of a
donation from Royal Caribbean International to the organization dedicated to building food security
through farming. General Manager of RCI business in The Bahamas Philip Simon is pictured, far left, with
Pastor Pat Paul, chairman of the Church Commercial Farming Group next to Campbell and Bahamas
Feeding Network Executive Director Archdeacon James Palacious, far right.
