An Assessment of the Extent to which Farmers Use Modern Technology to Improve Crop Production Value Chains in The Bahamas

Monique Ferguson and Erecia Hepburn

No 242080, 30th West Indies Agricultural Economics Conference, June 30-July 6, 2013, Port‐ of‐Spain, Trinidad, West Indies from Caribbean Agro-Economic Society

Abstract: Smallholder farms in The Bahamas generally produce as much as they can to sell to the Produce Exchange and other local markets. Much of the produce grown is of inconsistent size and inconsistent quality which causes it to be rejected by the market and consequently disposed of. This speaks to a breakdown in the Bahamian agricultural value chain which should negate wastage by relating the ultimate consumer’s demands to a farmers’ capability to produce. Value chains are essential linkages from purchase of inputs, land preparation, production and consumption that connect consumer demand to various agricultural enterprises. If Bahamian farmers were to effectively use the internet, cellular phone technology and research to improve production, efficiency would be increased, crop harvest increased and value chains strengthened. The necessary data for this research were garnered from farmers’ responses to a 13-question survey. The farmer’s names were extracted from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Farmers Register using a systematic random sampling selection process. Each farm was then rated as having a high, medium, or low level of technology usage in crop production value chains. Most Farmers in the Bahamas have a medium level of modern technology use. Improvements in seed selection, crop selection and research dissemination are needed.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Agricultural and Food Policy; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Crop Production/Industries; Demand and Price Analysis; Environmental Economics and Policy; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Food Security and Poverty; Land Economics/Use; Livestock Production/Industries; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15
Date: 2015-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:cars13:242080

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.242080

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