Claude Wilson , Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
RELIEF EFFORTS are continuing in eastern parishes in the wake of the October flood rains that severely dislocated lives and destroyed the agriculture sector in Portland and St. Mary. However, while aid is being focused on people in shelters many outside of prescribed shelter areas are yet to receive any form of assistance.
Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS) parish co-ordinator for Portland, Thelma Williams, said, "The relief agencies have been dealing mostly with the people in shelters. However, there are those outside the shelter communities, such as in the Durham Gap, Rock Hall, and Industry areas, who are indicating to us that they are experiencing difficult times and are in desperate need of relief assistance."
In one of the numerous letters to the Port Antonio JAS office outlining the plight of people in the neglected farming communities, president of the Fruitful Vale JAS branch, Samuel Orr, bemoaned the lack of attention given to communities outside of the areas where shelters are established.
"People here too are having a hard time as all they depend on is their farm (for food and income). Please ask the Red Cross people who are taking the food to Shrewsbury to send some to me in Fruitful Vale to be distributed to the needy in our area", begged Mr. Orr.
According to Mr. Orr, when relief assistance came to the area, agency workers claimed that the food and other supplies are designated for people who have lost their homes and are currently being housed in shelters, and ignored others whose homes might be intact but who had lost their means of making a living.
Mr. Orr said that the roads were all destroyed preventing farmers with crops that can still be salvaged to get to market, which is usually in Port Antonio.
In his letter, Gladstone Bell, president of the Rock Hall/Industry JAS branch, listed individual losses of the farmers he represents, and pointed to the lack of relief effort in that area, as well as the "terrible condition of the farm roads".
Thelma Williams told Farmers Weekly that, "There are still some access roads in Portland that remain impassable preventing markets trucks from going in to transport produce out to market. If these roads are restored then the displaced farmers can begin to earn from whatever saleable crops remain."
Mrs. Williams is appealing to the National Work Agency (NWA) to give urgent attention to repairing and restoring, especially the roads linking Durham Gap to Fruitful Vale, one of the main market routes for people in rural West Portland.
According to the JAS parish co-ordinator, the branch is helping to provide sustenance from the donations solicited through the organisation. However, despite the overwhelming generosity of donors, relief supplies are not in abundance to satisfy the tremendous needs that exist in the eastern parishes.
