Hugh Martin
AGRICULTURE AND Land Minister Roger Clarke delivered his Budget presentation to Parliament on Wednesday, May 3, with a measure of authority never before seen in the decade or so he's been holding that office. And just in case there was anyone who didn't understand the genesis of such confidence, he declared it at the start:
"I stand before you as a man with a mission endorsed by the commitment of the Prime Minister of Jamaica, to give priority to agriculture as one of the primary engines of economic growth and rural development." As if to leave not even the slightest speck of doubt as to his mandate he quoted her directly:
INCREASED URBANISATION
"There is no doubt that a new model of rural development is necessary as Jamaica adjusts to increased urbanisation, a decline in agricultural production and the negative impact of globalisation on the traditional agricultural sector. The new model has to be one of integrated rural-urban development, based on a comprehensive land-use policy and national development plan."
'When I wrote my column, The New Rurality,' published on Monday May 1, I had no idea the minister would be making his Budget presentation two days later and that he would be enunciating so strongly a policy direction on rural development that resembled so much what I had suggested and planned to elaborate on. Had he spoken later I might have been driven to the presumption that his concept was influenced by my prompting.
The fact is that successive administrations have treated rural development in piecemeal fashion with a project here, a project there and at the end of each, it has been back to ground zero. Much of what has passed for rural development has been nothing more than sub-sector management programmes such as soil conservation projects, watershed management and Land Authorities. All of these have focused on increasing agricultural production with little regard to the linkages with other aspects of rural life that are prerequisite for development whether at local or national level. Mr. Clarke's definition articulated in his presentation suggests a departure from that unfortunate approach.
'The new paradigm of rural development", he declared, "extends beyond agriculture and takes an integrated approach which recognises the economic importance of diversified interests such as eco-tourism, cottage industries, physical and social infrastructure and uses agriculture as a key strategy to empower people with a view to reducing rural poverty and reversing the trend of rural-urban migration."
Compare that with the concept of the new rurality that Dr. Chelston Brathwaite, Director General of IICA and former IICA Representative in Jamaica before his elevation to the top post, has been preaching since 2001.
According to him, the new rurality implies a vision of the rural sector that shatters the myths of the past about the role of the rural sector in economic development.
MYTHS
Those myths include the belief that rural development meant simply an improvement in farming and the alleviation of poverty among a set of backward uneducated country bumpkins. That approach has limited the real potential of the sector in terms of its contribution to agro-industry, eco-tourism, micro-tourism, agricultural tourism, forestry and the environment for recreation and national well-being.
The new rurality goes beyond the view of rural as covering only thinly-distributed populations of farming sectors but seeing it as also the link between rural and urban, including economic, social, cultural and political linkages that explain the behaviour of the economy as a whole.
It does seem as if the Minister of Agriculture and Land, as well as the Prime Minister, have been talking with Dr. Brathwaite after all, for I can see no difference in the two concepts even if one is a new convert. The important thing here is that he has the mandate to develop the policy and to implement it. Minister Clarke can rest assured that when he has accomplished this transformation of the too long neglected half of the country, his legacy will be unquestioned.
Hugh Martin is a communication consultant and farm broadcaster at humar@cwjamaica.com.
