The Tribune

PATRICIA Minnis, wife of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, attended the second day of a four-day food processing training workshop for members of the Women and Girls Mentoring Coalition yesterday.

The workshop is being held at the Food Safety and Technology Laboratories.

Mrs Minnis explained that the Office of the Spouse of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, led by Keith Daley, senior food technologist, collaborated to spearhead the workshop where the women learned various ways of processing produce to potentially increase their earnings.

Mrs Minnis said: “I worked here at the department for many years and during that time as a food microbiologist, we had a great cottage industry here in The Bahamas; I would like to see that happen again so that women are able to bring in an income.”

She added that making jams, jellies and chutneys based on seasonal produce can cut down on household expenses when prices go up in the stores. She also noted that having this expertise is especially desirable during this time when many women find themselves laid off from their jobs or are waiting for resorts to re-open.

It is expected that 36 participants will go through the four-day training. “Hopefully when the tourism industry gets going, we would be able to get some of these products into the hotels because as I said in the past, in the ‘90s and early 2000s, we had a vibrant cottage industry where women were doing this at home and they were put into the stores,” Mrs Minnis, pictured bottom left, stated.

During the workshop, the participants made jams, jellies, mango chutney and pickled cucumbers.