Farming the Organic Miracle
The Wondrous Abaco Neem
By Diane Phillips
www.aircurrentsmagazine.com
Volume 8, Issue 1 | Air Currents | 67
In the hills of central India, a
broad-leafed evergreen tree called the neem is
revered for its healing powers. Said to cure
everything from bed bugs to malaria, and to soothe
everything but a broken heart, neem is referred to as
the “village pharmacy.” A Western forestry expert goes so
far as to say it is “tailor-made for combating the serious problems
confronting mankind today.” Neem may not be
up to combating all the modern world’s serious
problems. It stops short of eliminating hostilities
among warring factions, but when it comes to healing
what ails you, neem may be just what the doctor ordered.
In Abaco, you don’t need a doctor to order the cure.
Neem is organically grown, processed, packaged and certified,
perhaps the first organically certified product internationally
distributed from The Bahamas. The company doing it
is called Abaco Neem, the brainchild of Nick
Miaoulis (pictured), who first encountered a neem tree
and its natural healing powers during a horticulture show
at his alma mater, the University of Florida in Gainesville,
in 1993. Miaoulis, then in the clothing business in
Abaco, was fascinated. “Watching people try on
clothes every day, I could see what bad eating
habits had done to the Bahamian population,” he
said. It was that in-your-face experience with
unfit shoppers that drew him to what appeared to be
Mother Nature’s magical formula. He took a brochure from
the show, asked about research. Everything he learned
whetted his appetite to learn more. Within a year, like
a man driven, he had leased 120 acres from the Bahamian
government, not far from Marsh Harbour on the island
of Great Abaco. He was about to become a farmer. The
first crop nearly didn’t make it. “We brought
in 8,000 seeds out of India and got stopped in
Washington by the Department of Agriculture, even
though we had all the paperwork,” he said. He was all
but frantic. Back in Abaco, there were 8,000 waiting pots
ready to receive the precious cargo, but with each passing
day, the 2-6 week survival rate of the seeds was diminishing.
Finally, approval was granted and the container
continued its shipping journey. Only 10% of the
imported seeds, which take approximately three to
three and a half years to go from seed to
fruit-bearing tree, survived. Today, there are 5,320 trees
on the Abaco Neem farm, another 440 in a nursery. It’s
a constant process of re-forestation. The
farm is so productive it takes a crew of up to 18 to
harvest the seed from late August to the end of January.
For two months following the harvest, oil is pressed
to produce a wide range of products—soaps, salves,
lotions, shampoos, creams and a tea and extract are
produced from the leaf. Production of goods takes place
at the processing and retail center near the Marsh Harbour
Airport. It is time-consuming, tedious and unlike the
sprawling farm has more the feel of a cottage industry. Piles
of seeds the size of a pencil-tip eraser are tumbled in
an agitator. Every seed is hand-peeled, passed through a
Taby press that separates the precious oil from a solid substance
which becomes neem seed cake, something that looks
like ground granola and is used as a fertilizer and
soil enhancer to nurture the trees that produced it. The
farm also grows aloe and coconut trees which are used
in their products. The market is sitting up and
taking notice. Beyond gaining popularity among the
standard health food, soy milk and goat cheese
crowd, Abaco Neem is quietly gaining overall market
share among a wider audience who believe its
anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal
properties cures or ease symptoms of arthritis, diabetes,
periodontal disease and ulcers. Neem has been known
to build healthier teeth and gums. Abaco Neem oil
has been used as a natural de-wormer on domestic pets
and farm animals—pigs, goats, sheep and cattle. It also
protects them from fleas, ticks and other skin irritations.
Its properties appear to have the power to heal, erase,
soothe and smooth, and more importantly, to improve
general health and well-being. For
Abaco Neem’s founder, a man who was once a clothier
and now proudly calls himself a farmer and has developed
a passion bordering on obsession with good health,
he’s convinced he is providing “the best neem oil in
the world,” thanks to a combination of factors— seaweed
for natural fertilization, a good water table for perfect
growing conditions and the ability to harvest with
care. “In poorer countries like India, they
shake the trees and the fruit lays on the ground,
sometimes for days.” says Miaoulis. “But here
we pick it right off the tree so it is always
fresh.” And that may be part of the secret
of the qualification for organic certification. A
company called Quality Certification Services out
of Gainesville checks their farm products and
manufacturing procedures annually. The Neem
Association and World Organization of Natural Medicine
consider Abaco Neem’s oil to being that of ‘super
high grade quality neem oil.’ Ironically, what could be
the world’s most pure form of neem oil is growing on an
island in the Northern Bahamas, once considered unfit for
farming becuase of soil that was not as rich as other islands.
www.aircurrentsmagazine.com
Volume 8, Issue 1 | Air Currents | 67
Thank
you for being an “Abaco
Neem” Customer
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Abaco Neem
P.O. Box AB 20317
Marsh Harbour, Abaco, Bahamas
Phone: (242) 367-4117 * Fax: (242) 367-4118
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