North Central Clarendon - Road woes hurt constituency's agriculture

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Friday | August 31, 2007

George Henry, Gleaner Writer

The North Central Clarendon constituency consists of three parish council divisions - Chapelton, Rock River and Mocho. There are 92 polling divisions in the constituency; Chapelton has 40, Rock River has 29 and Mocho 23.

In the 2002 general election, the Jamaica Labour Party's Pearnel Charles polled 5,867 votes to then incumbent MP George Lyn's 4,562. When the polls open on September 3, the 24,350 voters who are currently on the voters' list will have the choice of electing incumbent MP and veteran politician Pearnel Charles of the JLP, or newcomer Ralph Thomas of the PNP.

Among the long list of things to address are job creation, proper road condition, watersupply, housing and river training.

A resident, who gave his name as Gladstone, told The Gleaner that he has been living in the constituency for over 40 years.

He expressed disappointment that not much in terms of infrastructure attention, especially road repair, has been seen.

"Boy, I believe the MP suffered badly with the people in this constituency. The many bad roads which he identified and made representation for, for repair work to be carried out, are unbelievable," said Gladstone.

Deplorable roads

He pointed out that roads in the constituency are in a deplorable state. Even the main roads from all directions are not comfortable to drive on.

Gladstone paid particular attention to arterial roads, saying they were in worse condition than others, and had to be addressed if constituents, especially small farmers, are to earn a living.

The constituency, an agricultural-based grouping of communities, has several independent small farmers.

The community of Mocho, which was once referred to as the 'Garden of Eden', and where several crops, including yams and fruits, were produced to satisfy the needs of parishes, such as Manchester, Kingston and St. Catherine, is no longer able to maintain that description because of the reduction in the crops being produced.

The reason for this is to be found, residents say, in the difficulty farmers have in getting crops out to the markets.

Reduction in crop production has also been affected by Jamalco's mining operations and constituents are calling on the new MP to be prepared to make representation to that bauxite company on their behalf for the reclaiming of several acreages, so lands can be put to good use.

Not much from bauxite

Several persons have said billions of dollars have been earned from their area through bauxite, though not much has come back to the residents.

This, one resident indicated, will also be affected by the speed with which roads are repaired.

"If you go to Chapelton and Rock River, the one major cry you hear from farmers is that they cannot get to their fields to plant or to reap the fields after they have planted," said a male resident, who opted not to be identified.

"The trucks cannot get into the rural districts to carry out their products to the market because of the bad road situation. This has caused a great setback to agriculture," he added.

He also wants a proper programme of river training to be implemented at Summerfield.

According to the resident, if that is not done, the entire community could be wiped out when it rains heavily.

Other residents told The Gleaner there are 17 schools between basic and high in the constituency and, of that number, only five have running water.

There is a loud cry from many residents in the Mocho area for a multimillion-dollar water supply scheme to be established there.

Areas such as Trout Hall, Path, Mitchell's Hill, Gordon Wood, Prospect and Springfield depend on water trucks for water, but at times are not able to get the commodity because of the poor state of roads.

The residents also clamour for more job opportunities, especially for the young people leaving school.

"There is nowhere here that young people can go to seek employment. If you happen to visit the market in Chapelton on a Friday or Saturday, you will not see as many as 25 persons there shopping, because persons here do not have stable jobs."

Many residents want the start-up of a book scheme and allocation of furniture to several schools for students in the constituency.