Arguing that poverty is a predominantly rural phenomenon, Government senator Norman Grant last week suggested that Jamaica should focus on rural development in order to prevent an acceleration of rural/urban drift and its attendant social ills.

Grant, in his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate Friday, said: “It is my considered view that without rural development, Jamaica has no future.”

He called for a concentration on the creation of non-farm employment opportunities in rural Jamaica, particularly for the young, saying that this would translate into an emphasis on agro-processing. Any such emphasis, he added, must address the chronic problem of existing idle capacity.

According to Grant, the idle capacity in the agro-processing sub-sector is due mainly to the unavailability of raw materials in the required quantities and at affordable prices. It was, therefore, a sine qua non that conditions that are both necessary and sufficient for the growth and development of the agro-processing sub-sector be created as a matter of urgency, Grant said.

He also called for selection and concentration on a limited number of agricultural and agri-industrial activities. He said that these activities should be selected with a view to emphasising their developmental potential, their spill-over effect and their ability to contribute to food security and to the earning and/or saving of foreign exchange.

Grant also called for a significant upgrading of the skill content and the scientific and technological know-how of the rural labour force, with a view to increasing productivity, reducing unit cost and achieving world class quality for a selected number of agricultural and agro-industrial products.

He suggested that the process of industrialisation be resumed with the revival of the capital goods sector, which should be dedicated to the manufacture of tools, equipment and machinery to modernise agriculture to improve efficiency.