The Impact of Hurricane Sandy (2012) on Local Farmers in the Bahamas

Natural disasters have the potential to have substantial impact particularly on the economy and food security of developing countries. The Bahamas, one of 52 small developing island states, is particularly vulnerable to the detrimental forces of nature which often strike without warning. Hurricanes and tropical storms are the predominant natural disaster events which affect The Bahamas and many other Caribbean nations. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and assess the damages that incurred as a result of Hurricane Sandy (2012) on food security in The Bahamas. The paper begins by establishing the parameters by which to determine the level of food security of The Bahamas. Due to the dependence on imports to feed the general populace, it was found that The Bahamas is not a food self-sustaining country and thereby has a low level of food security. Secondly, the impact that Hurricane Sandy had on local farmers was examined. Several local farmers were interviewed to establish a first-person descriptive account of Hurricane Sandy. The types of damage were divided into two main categories: crops and livestock. Overall, most of the losses incurred came from crops, with banana production being the crop that suffered the most. Using an estimation provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations (FAO), the amount of damage that the storm inflicted upon the agricultural sector is approximated at B $98.7 million.