JAMAICA | Jamaica's Agricultural Maze: Colonial Legacy, Crumbling Roads, and the Fight for Food Security

KINGSTON, Jamaica, December 15, 2024 - The sprawling network of 4,000 kilometers of farm roads in Jamaica serves as the lifeline for over 300,000 small farmers, yet only 12% of the island's arable lands benefit from its ten irrigation systems – a stark reminder of the infrastructure challenges facing this Caribbean nation's agricultural sector.

The roots of Jamaica's current land distribution woes can be traced back to the aftermath of emancipation in 1838. European colonists claimed the crown jewels of agricultural real estate, carving out parcels of 2,000 to 3,000 acres each.

Upon these privileged perches, they erected great houses – not merely mansions, but veritable citadels of colonial control, strategically positioned to maintain their iron grip over the island's governance.

This inequitable land distribution sparked a cultural phenomenon that persists to this day: former slaves, in their quest for economic independence, began squatting on crown lands.

This practice has become so deeply embedded in Jamaican society that even modern governments struggle to address it, as evidenced by the recent national crisis at Bernard Lodge.

The 1888 Land Settlement Act, while ostensibly addressing land distribution, maintained its European bias. It wasn't until the Moyne Commission of 1938-39, published in the wake of the Trinidad and Tobago riots and other land-related strife in Jamaica, that meaningful change began to take shape.

The subsequent Land Settlement scheme of 1939 finally attempted to rationalize land distribution for both agriculture and housing, emphasizing access to essential services like health facilities, schools, churches, and commercial centers.

The Jamaica Welfare Commission, established in 1938 to support community development, would later evolve into the Social Development Commission in the post-independence era.

Under the new scheme, marginal lands were leased to the poor, with provisions for both agricultural use and dwelling purposes. These five-acre plots came with a crucial restriction: no subdivision allowed. Yet, over decades, reality proved more complex than policy.

Leaseholders quietly permitted relatives to settle on portions of their lots, inadvertently sowing the seeds of today's sprawling communities.

These evolving settlements demanded infrastructure, creating a byzantine network of farm roads, parochial routes, National Work Agency (NWA) thoroughfares, and unclaimed paths. The maintenance of these vital arteries, particularly the 4,000 kilometers of farm roads, has become a bureaucratic quagmire.

Prior to 2014, upkeep fell under the production incentive programme, before being transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Mining's (MICAF&M) national budget. A watershed moment came in 2015 when former agriculture minister Derrick Kellier successfully lobbied for a dedicated farm road budget, placing management under the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA).

Yet, the numbers tell a sobering tale. While farm roads typically receive an annual allocation of $0.5 to $1 billion, experts estimate a yearly requirement of $6 billion for proper maintenance. This shortfall is exacerbated by political maneuvering within RADA's Parish Advisory Committees, where political activists and parish councilors often hold sway.

The result? A system where road repairs follow political expediency rather than agricultural necessity, prioritizing voter-rich populated areas over crucial food-producing regions.

RADA's limitations extend beyond political interference. The authority lacks a fully developed road engineering unit, hampering its ability to execute quality repairs or design new roads – a particularly pressing concern as Agro Parks emerge as priority production zones requiring robust access infrastructure.

The numbers paint a picture of untapped potential: of Jamaica's 200,000 hectares of arable land, only 31,000 hectares enjoy irrigation, despite estimates suggesting that 100,000 hectares would suffice to meet the nation's food security needs.

While ambitious irrigation projects like Essex Valley and Pedro Plains promise to nurture an additional 6,000 hectares of fertile farmland, the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) moves at a glacial pace in expanding coverage from the current 15% to the targeted 50% of arable lands.

Since its establishment in 1986, the NIC has largely built upon colonial-era infrastructure, inheriting schemes at Bernard Lodge, St. Dorothy, and mid-Clarendon while adding newer projects at Hounslow, Braco, Yallahs, and Plantain River.

Yet innovation in financing could accelerate this progress. Taking a page from the National Water Commission's playbook – which plans to leverage private-public partnerships (PPP) for domestic water distribution from Rio Cobre – the NIC could pioneer similar partnerships in regions like Essex Valley and Pedro Plains.

The path to agricultural prosperity demands fresh thinking. Jamaica's excess liquidity could be channeled into large-scale irrigation projects, simultaneously controlling inflation while boosting agricultural productivity. Similarly, the current road management system cries out for simplification.

The present arrangement, with three government agencies – NWA, RADA, and Parish Councils – operating under different ministries and engineering standards, begs for unification under a single national road authority.

Perhaps most pressing is the question of orphaned roads – those that began as farm roads but evolved alongside housing developments without formal adoption by Parish Councils or the NWA.

These vital arteries of community life deserve proper management and maintenance, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive infrastructure reform in Jamaica's agricultural sector.

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