To farm or not to farm? - JamaicaObserver.com

Sunday, November 08, 2009 12:53 AM

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To farm or not to farm?

North Clarendon fighting for its survival

BY INGRID BROWN Sunday Observer senior reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, April 12, 2009

JUNIOR Hewitt is from Crooked River, a farming community in Clarendon North, but he has no interest in tilling soil.

A career in farming just would not pay him enough to cover his bills in the short term, he told the Sunday Observer. Instead, he sells sweets and biscuits to schoolchildren as this is a quicker turnover than farming, but still not enough to meet all his needs. Up to three years ago he worked at a bakery in Chapelton, but when his boss could no longer afford to pay him, Hewitt returned to his hometown.

Several residents now find employment on one of the two major road repair sites in the constituency. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

Anecdotal evidence suggests that scores of young Jamaicans like Hewitt have been returning to their rural roots as the global recession worsens and more of them are laid off.

Sean, a 25-year-old high school graduate, also returned home to his farming community in North Clarendon after losing his job in May Pen. But unlike Hewitt, Sean returned to farm on family lands, but not before trying unsuccessfully to secure another job outside of the community.

Hewitt and Sean will no doubt continue to see more of their peers returning home as businesses in the neighbouring towns continue to send home more workers. Some of them, like Sean, have fallen back on farming since there are no other industries in the constituency, but they say it is not sustainable.

Sean, for his part, told the Sunday Observer that while farming is far from profitable - given the increased competition, inadequate water supplies and bad roads - he takes comfort in the fact that he can at least eat what he grows. And fortunately, for him and those who are left in farming, crime is not a major issue in the area. Praedial larceny, the farmers added, had not yet gotten "out of hand".

Claudette Codner (left), an employee at the North Clarendon Processing Company, packs packets of mixed fruits into boxes for the local market, as her manager Curine Nembhard looks on. In its heyday dozens of residents benefitted from either working at the factory or finding a market for their produce.

A constituency which spans scores of communities, Clarendon North has many of the usual rural area concerns of poor road conditions, lack of piped water and high unemployment.

Farming is the mainstay, with acreages of chocolates, oranges and sugar canes among the most farmed items.

It is estimated that 35,000 to 40,000 people live in what is one of the biggest constituency in the parish, with 16,000 registered on the voters' list. It takes over an hour to drive on the main road from one end to another, but traversing all the communities in a day poses quite a challenge because of the terrain, which either meanders in some deep valleys or on hilly areas.

In Morgan's Pass - one of the bigger communities in the constituency - there is a factory which is in trouble. The North Clarendon Processing Company has fallen on hard times and can no longer employ as many people as it once did. The factory was started in 1975 as a self-help effort between the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) and the local farmers for them to easily dispose of their ground produce.

"When the factory closed for two years, some farmers got vex and cut down a lot of them fruit trees when they couldn't get market for the produce," explained Claudette Codner, who has been employed at the factory for 33 years.

Taxi operators say bad roads in the constituency are costing them thousands of dollars in repairs. (Photos: Lionel Rookwood)

Last year the factory reopened - on a much smaller scale - under an arrangement between the JAS and a private operator, purchasing pawpaws, oranges, citrons and ackee from some local farmers.
Operator of the factory, Delroy Stennett, said a lot of the machines were in need of costly repairs. He was, however, optimistic that the factory would return to its glory days when he used to be able to purchase as much as the local farmers could produce. Most of the markets were lost when the factory closed, but Stennett remained hopeful. Until that happens, some residents - among them farmers - have managed to secure jobs on construction sites to repair three major breakaways in
the constituency.

Others use their motor cars to operate taxis, albeit without the necessary red licence plate. But even this "venture" poses a challenge as taxi operators say the poor road condition forces them to spend more on repairs than on food for their family.
In Morgan's Pass, the community where Member of Parliament Laurence Broderick hails from, the complaints were loudest from some residents.

The residents told the Sunday Observer that the roads have been in a deplorable condition for more than 20 years, despite successive governments and MPs.

"PNP come in and nutten nuh gwaan, and now JLP come in and still nutten nah gwaan," said Garfield Austin, a farmer who has a second job as a taxi operator.

According to the residents, their complaints have nothing to do with politics as persons from both sides of the political divide were affected by the poor road conditions.

They argue that they cannot get their produce to the markets as there are some parts of the constituency which can only be "accessed by foot". Added to that, some residents complained that they hardly see their political representative.

"Him born here, and him used to jog by every morning and would come mix cement ah every dead yard, but now we can hardly see him," one man said, throwing up his hands in frustration.

In nearby Crooked River, some residents say bad roads were not among their concerns as they were grateful that several sections had been fixed. However, their loudest cry was for piped water. In fact, the residents say they were puzzled that they were still being sent water bills totalling more than $2,000 monthly when they hardly ever get the commodity in their pipes.

In neighbouring Baptist - another farming community - some residents complained that their production yield was being affected by a lack of water. "Is two box me was planning fi go buy fi put food in, cause me no have water fi wash no plates," said one woman, who requested anonymity.

Residents also complained about high unemployment. When the Sunday Observer visited the community in the middle of the work week, groups of people were seen lazing about under a tree. The residents explained that those who are fortunate enough to find employment have to journey to May Pen, Frankfield, Chapelton or Spaulding.

"The only way you seem to get work is if you have contacts," said one woman.

The residents told the Sunday Observer that they would welcome a skills training programme, even as they pointed to a community centre which they said had been closed ever since it was built shortly before the change of government.

Some residents also complained that there were inadequate supplies at the nearby health centre, which only sees prenatal and antenatal cases.

"They don't even have things to dress a cut down there anymore, and so we have to pay $150 to go all the way to Frankfield," one woman said.

For residents in Number 32 community, the main concern is to get vehicular traffic moving through the area again. The community has been cut off to vehicular access for sometime now. But Leslie Howell is hopeful that a planned community meeting with the MP to address road concerns as well as the current road work in the neighbouring Ballads River community, could be a sign that his troubles may soon be over.

Howell used to make a comfortable living from farming, but said his livelihood has been threatened by the bad road condition inside the community.

"Now, if me even could pay one million dollars, a vehicle can't come to my gate. Mi brother use to drive come pick up we parents and bring them to church, but now him can't do it because we no have no road," Howell said.

In Ballads River, piped water was the main concern. However, in this case, some persons pointed fingers at residents from a neighbouring community who they alleged have been sabotaging the water supply by locking it off from that end and preventing it from flowing into their pipes. The residents were, however, grateful that some major breakaways which posed immense dangers for years were finally being repaired by their MP.

All throughout the constituency the complaints were similar, with the MP's performance being highly commended in some areas while being heavily criticised in others.

As she sheltered from the rain under a shop piazza in Kellits - with its many empty business places - Lupeter Webster had one wish. That is to see the young people in her Comsie community gainfully employed so they can spend less time on the street.
"Only two young people over there go out go work, and is at the post office," she said.

Farming is the main source for the more than 250 residents there, but Webster said the young people were not willing to go into farming.

She cannot blame them, she said, as the acreages of chocolate and sugar cane have not been selling as it used to. In fact, she said a number of farmers had cut down their chocolate trees as the trucks no longer came to buy from them.
Instead, she said the farmers utilised the land for cash crops, which may be taken to the nearby Kellits market to be sold. But even that business is slow, as a market in the heart of a farming community does not do booming business. Many residents used to travel to the Linstead market to sell, but fear of crime and violence in that area has prevented them from doing so now, Webster added. Webster was adamant she was not going back to the market because of the crime. She now has plans to rear chickens like many of her neighbours.

She used to farm sugar cane, but with the challenges in the sugar industry, that is no longer viable. She wants her MP to introduce more income-generating projects so families like hers can put food on their tables.

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