Bahamas News
Royal Caribbean International fulfills pledge of 400 backyard farming kits to ADO, 200 more small farmers received seeds to their future food supply today
Philip Smith
#Nassau, December 20, 2023 — With a food import bill topping $1 billion annually and the vivid memory of supply chain shortage, the movement to grow more of what we eat and eat more of what we grow got a boost today when Royal Caribbean International (RCI) presented the last 200 of 400 backyard farming kits to the Agricultural Development Organization (ADO).
Recipients of the kits lined up at St. Thomas More Parish Hall, Centreville, ready to start or expand a garden farm they could manage at home with the aid of a field officer visiting once a month. Each kit was packed with soil, 72 seeds of dozens of varieties, small irrigation tubing and fertilizer.
Among the special guests at the presentation and distribution ceremony were Minister of Agriculture Jomo Campbell, RCI general manager of Bahamian business and president of the Royal Beach Club Philip Simon and ADO Executive Chairman Philip Smith.
This is the second time the agriculture minister participated in the backyard farm distribution of kits provided by a donation from Royal Caribbean International, a collaboration and program, he called “a shining example of corporate responsibility.”
“We cannot thank donors like Royal Caribbean enough,” said Philip Smith. “Without the tremendous outpouring of corporate support by a few key donors like Royal Caribbean, we would not be where we are today and where we are with having provided materials to start 2700 backyard farms in less than two years is just the beginning.”
Smith, who focused on feeding for 17 years including founding and heading up the Bahamas Feeding Network for nearly a decade, says growing what we eat is essential for two reasons.
Agricultural Development Organization and Royal Caribbean International partner for Farming Kit Distribution in Nassau, Bahamas
“First, there is the issue of food security and I fully believe that the answer to that lies right in our own backyards. Our heritage is farming. Our ancestors did not clamber for greens, potatoes, yams, onions, cucumber, even eggs. They walked out into the back yard and picked what they needed that day. And the taste of a home-grown tomato is so much fresher than one picked elsewhere, packaged, trucked, put on a cargo ship, shipped across the seas, then the container trucked to a store before that tomato has been offloaded, labeled and put on a shelf. The stores try hard, but there is a world of difference.”
Smith also cites the nation’s declining health with greater incidences of hypertension, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and arthritis. He said the link to an increased dependence on processed and fast foods cannot be ignored.
Agriculture Minister Jomo Campbell cited multiple benefits from the good to grow campaign and the collaboration between ADO and partners – improved food security, economic opportunities, health benefits, environmental sustainability and community building.
“In earlier times, farming was not an unfamiliar profession in The Bahamas,” the minister recalled. “Many of our grandparents, mothers and fathers practiced substance agriculture where they grew crops according to their family’s needs…This program demonstrates that we can do this again and simultaneously cut down on our exorbitant food import bill that continues to be pegged at $1 billion.”
RCI’s Philip Simon explained the cruise company’s reason for strong support.
“Royal Caribbean International is committed to sustainability,” said Simon. “That commitment is evident in everything we do – in investing in the most advanced technology to minimize waste and maximize recycling onboard
Agricultural Development Organization and Royal Caribbean International partner for Farming Kit Distribution in Nassau, Bahamas
our ships, in our commitment for the Royal Beach Club to be landfill waste free by 2030. But creating a sustainable planet takes more than massive recycling. It also involves the things we can do every day, including the nutritional benefits of growing our own food.”
Simon said RCI’s long-time support of the Bahamas Feeding Network lent naturally to supporting ADO.
“We understand that there will always be a need to feed but if we begin to grow more of our own and restore the joy of a farming culture, bringing us closer to the earth, we will all benefit and RCI is proud to be part of this important community initiative.”
In addition to backyard kits, ADO is assisting 26 schools throughout The Bahamas to create farms and on December 9, Smith and team will be in Exuma to help launch the Rolleville Commonage Community Farm with Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper officially opening the half-acre garden of greens and more.
Photo Captions:
Header: Royal Caribbean International General Manager of Bahamas business and president of Royal Beach Club Philip Simon addresses crowd at the distribution of 200 backyard farming kits at a ceremony at St. Thomas More Parish Hall. In the background, l-r, Pastor Pat Paul, Ministry of Agriculture Kendea Smith, Minister of Agriculture Jomo Campbell, and Agricultural Development Organization Executive Chairman Philip Smith. (Cay Focus Photography)
1st insert: ADO Executive Chairman Philip Smith accepts the donation of the last 200 of 400 backyard farming kits from Royal Caribbean International. Since its founding less than two years ago, ADO has helped start more than 2,500 backyard farms and restore what Smith calls the “the joy and pride of farming.” (Cay Focus Photography)
2nd insert: Constituents in the Centreville community register (photo left) and get their starter farming kit with soil, more than 70 seeds, irrigation tubing, fertilizer and the promise of assistance from a trained field officer. (Cay Focus Photography)
3rd insert: (L-R) Former MP Dion Smith; Philip Smith, Executive Chairman of ADO Bahamas; Hon. Jomo Campbell, Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources; Nicolette Archer, Executive Assistant & Administrator at Bahamas Feeding Network; Pastor Patrick Paul of Bahamas Assemblies of God and Philip Simon, President of Royal Beach Club and General Manager of Royal Caribbean International Bahamas. (Cay Focus Photography)
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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