Eastern Hanover: Improvement in tourism not enough

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

Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer

In Eastern Hanover, a constituency which statistics show is rife with unemployment, citizens say the candidate taking up the mantle as Member of Parliament after election day will have to address that problem with a sense of urgency, and revamp agriculture.

The two candidates vying for Eastern Hanover are the People's National Party's (PNP) Dr. D.K. Duncan, and the incumbent, Barrington Gray, of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Eastern Hanover accounts for two of the parish's major towns, Hopewell and Sandy Bay.

Most of the terrain is mountainous, and the main economic activity is farming.

Nevertheless, many farmers contend that much of their efforts is in vain, as there is no ready market for the yams, bananas, vegetables and other crops they produce.

Diverse offerings

With its diverse offerings, Eastern Hanover is ripe for nature tourism, as it possesses some of Jamaica's best waterfalls and caves.

It is home to the Kenilworth HEART Academy which offers hospitality training, as well as Tryall and Round Hill, two of the world's finest villa-type resorts.

The constituency is expected to benefit greatly from the connection to a 1,600-room Spanish-owned Grand Palladium hotel, currently under construction at Point Estate, which falls within its boundaries.

But while tourism is growing, another dilemma faces Eastern Hanover.

The constituency's lone garment factory, which employs several hundred people, mainly women, is set to close by year end, leaving many to hope the Fiesta Hotel will pick up the slack.

Bank Teller Orlando Patterson, 23, of Burntside district, believes the unemployment and farming woes could be alleviated if a major agro-processing plant is established in the constituency.

"Most of the communities here are farming communities. Mangoes, breadfruit and yams are in abundance, but mangoes go to waste all the time. We need a first-class agro-processing plant so the things produced and grown naturally here can be used up so that we gain financially from them," said Mr. Patterson.

"There are things I would like to see undertaken such as youth development, education, entrepreneurship and agriculture," he said.

"The MP must assist youths with programmes that will change their socio-economic status. Many young people live in this constituency, and they have nothing to do," he added.

Firefighter William Riggan, of Montpelier, also contends that agriculture could, by far, help to curtail unemployment.

He said the MP ought to focus on helping the farmers to create bridges to Fiesta and other imminent tourism developments.

"Food is one of the hotel's main priorities, because guests have to eat every day," said Mr. Riggan.

"People will enter into agriculture if they know it is profitable and they can have ready markets. People don't want to go into agriculture and have their produce perish," he added.

Rural development

Resident of Chester Castle, Delroy Dewar, has rural development high on his agenda. He said most of the roads within his area needed to be repaired, enabling farmers to get their produce to the markets.

He said uncollected garbage was resulting in pollution ofthe rivers in the area, and, as Mr. Patterson, believes a factory or a skills training centre could solve, what, he said, was a major unemployment problem.

He said the community's post office was dilapidated, and owing to the absence of a library, students had to travel to Bethel Town in neighbouring Westmoreland to conduct research.

He said as a result of the maternity centre being downscaled, expectant mothers also had to travel to Savanna-la-Mar and Montego Bay to have their babies delivered.

"The community right now is crying for development," he said.