The Mile Gully To Greenvale Road, In Northern Manchester, Jamaica, From

The Eyes Of An Observer

A Contribution To Location Studies
Introduction:- Very rarely in Jamaica a given location which cannot claim prominence
by any given socio-economic measure, has been subjected to a detail study. This
small and narrow stretch following the road, a location of about seven km, with
relatively low population density, however from a historic perspective does have
some significance; it was from the Bethany Moravian Church over a century ago
that Irish potato cultivation was introduced to Jamaica, it was from Mile Gully , that
the movement to create the parish of Manchester was started.
The objective of this study, is that of creating in the main a system of references or
points of datum from which other similar locations may be measure and or
analyzed. Secondly, it is hoped that information gathered might be of benefit to
those involved in the planning of the economic and social development of Northern
Manchester , in the area of improving agricultural practices and increase per acre
output of the agricultural lands in the area.
This, paper uses a system of talking references which indicates not only what
other text or materials were used as reference but also it carries the observers
perspective on a given text or article used as reference.
1/ The Mile Gully To Greenvale Road Stretch In Figures

State Of The Built Environment (data collected Feb. 2015)

State of Dwellings

Number of
Dwellings
In %

Dwellings In Good
Condition

64
65.30612

Dwellings in a Bad
State of Repair

8
8.163265

Abandoned
structures
(dwellings)

11
11.22449

Dwellings stalled in
construction
13

13.26531

or stalled in up
grade

New Dwellings
Under Construction

2
2.040816

Total

98

Business Types (Not included those in Mile Gully proper)

Business
Type

Numbe
r
Observ
ed

Taxi
operator
s

26.666
67

Wood
work

13.333
33

Mechani
c shop

trucker

6.6666
67
6.6666
67

Shop/bar
s

Agricultu
ral
packagin
g houses

Total

40

6.6666
67
15 100

Farm Lots by size

Size of Farm
Lot

Number of Farm
lots

Farm lots of
area 3 acres
or more

33

Farm lots
>1<3 acres or
more

21

Farm lots one

acre or less

19

Total

73

45.20548

28.76712

26.0274

Vehicles seen on the stretch

date
4th. Feb. 2015
4th. Feb 2015
5th. Feb. 2015
5th.Feb. 2015
6th. Feb. 2015
6th. Feb.2015

time
9.33-11.00 am
3.00-4.00 p.m.
9.25-10.40
3.00-4.00 p.m.
9.35-10.40
3.00-4.00 pm

Number of motor vehicles seen

15
13
10
15
15
17

Taxis do not operate as they regularly do on Sundays, in fact the cost from Mile
Gully to Bethany/ Hiberna on a Sunday is US$ 2.60 (J$300.00). The situation during
the nights is equally very challenging for individuals who are not motor vehicle
owners, and calls for the organizing and proper scheduling of the Mile Gully to
Bethany/ Hibernia taxis.
(Perhaps here the Mile Gully Police could play an organizational and scheduling role
up to 9.00 p.m. on week days and up to 6.00 p.m. on Sundays, this action also is not
of value only from a commuting stand point but also from a policing stand point,
keeping eyes on the road and preventing the entrance of alien taxis into the area.The vies of the observer)
N.B. Most of the vehicles were family cars, most operating as taxis.

Animal Rearing Culture (as seen and counted)

Item and or animal seen
Number of cows seen
Number of rabbit hutches seen
Number of locations known to have live pigs
Number of goats see and counted
Number of fowl coops seen
Number of ducks seen *
Number of occupied fowl coops seen

number
15
1
4
27
3
1
1

Duck (a drake) was seen in March 2015

All data for the tables given above were collected in Feb. 2015
Notes:

The total area of land under cultivation is but a very small fraction of the total
acreage available for cultivation.
Farmers sometimes rest the land for a period of time before planting the
next crop, prolong resting of land is not practiced in this area.
For a family to do well by urban standards (having urban middle class
status and resources) using existing farming culture, a minimum of nine acres
would have to be cultivated. Some farmers achieve this by using multiple lots
rather than a single lot.
Not all households enjoy equal legitimate access to farm land, and there
are instances of agricultural squatting.
Most motor vehicles on the stretch are owned by four families.
Cow ownership can be divided up among three families.
Solid Waste Disposal
1. Travelling waste such as soft drink bottles, in particular BOOM, Busta,
Wata , along with boxes and cups which contained food and or drink, in
addition to wrappers and snack bags of all types and colors litter the
sidewalks and embankments for miles.
2. Most households burn their garbage at home, while there is municipal
pick up of garbage in Mile Gully and or Christiana, the residents outside
of these centers do not benefit from this service.
3. Some small businesses dispose their waste along the roadside, for
example between Shafton and Lambert in a gully by the roadside one
finds wastes which appear to have come from a restaurant.
4. One old gas stove was dumped in a gully between Shafton and
Lambert, the people in Shafton burn at home their domestic garbage

and are not known for dumping items on the roads side, in fact they
have two dumping sites, one of which is used for discarding dead
animals.
Pedestrian and Policing Notes
Walking at an average comfortable speed for a healthy fifty five years old male, the
distance of the nearest home from the Mile Gully Police Station going up the hill in
the direction of Bethany is ten minutes, after leaving that house to the first house
in Lambert (the garage) is fourteen minutes away. From the green painted house in
Shafton to the next house up the hills is four minutes away. From the green house in
Shafon to the Bethany All Age and Primary School is eight minutes away.
Given that the region under observation has very low traffic volumes on the road,
and relatively infrequent active policing because in the first instance the fact that
the terrain is very hilly which takes a h in gas usage
Toll on the vehicles both in terms of gas usage and on the condition of the
police vehicles (brake shoes etc) and secondly because the area is generally
one characterized by very low levels of reported crime; the community gas a
whole and the police has to depend a lot on good eyes of all road users in
particular the drivers of taxis. As shown above, a person in particular women
and or children, could literally be robbed or raped and the robbers get away
with relative ease. It also points to the fact that in the event of rains, be they
heavy or moderate person walking home from Mile Gully direction, could get
soaking wet before reaching any point of shelter.
The above description, also puts into context the claimed preference rural
young women are supposed to have for car men-men who own and drive
motor vehicles.

Comments On The Theft Of Animals and Crops

Praedial larceny of life stock or any significant quantity of agricultural produce , if it
should occur, would be a Crime of Consent , involving members of the
community. After a few days in the region under observation , one comes to know
the vehicles which belongs to the region, when they drive and when they do not.
Which citizens are Christiania/ Spaulding focused and which are Mile Gully/
Mandeville focused , who walks or who drives. Strangers are easily recognized.
The physical terrain of the off the road lands) also reduced the likely involvement
of unguided or unschooled strangers in praedial theft. In some areas of St. Thomas,
St. Catherine and Clarendon where there are large areas of flat land, this might be

the case, however in the region of Northern Manchester a guide or intense coaching
is required by an outsider.
It somehow seems to be more socially acceptable to steal the crops or animals of a
single woman, even if she is a mother of children, than to steal the same from a
man or a from a woman with a husband. In part it might be an attempt by the
thieves to reduce the risk they face in carrying out the act of crime and secondly an
act of power and act demonstrating the big man. It also seems to be more
socially acceptable to steal from the brown man or socially brown man. Predial
larceny has gender, class and racial dimensions to it.
Praedial larceny carried out by young males and or females in many instances a
direct result of a lack of economic opportunities and the real needs to sustain self
and households.

The Zone Under Observation (Overview)

Passing along the road one sees many homes which appear to be built to the
highest local standards and appears to be very middle class and middle income;
this quick glance, hides the fact that in this very same socio-economic space there
are several low income families which occupies sub-standard housing units, some of
which are in urgent need of repair.
Such glances hides the fact that not all homes have equal access to clean portable
water or have rain water harvesting tanks. The hidden realities as they exist, places
additional pressure on the women of the household (only once was a male seen
carrying water for domestic use, in fact this observer say a home with several
young males seated along with a young lady, while to the same location a very slim
young lady of roughly twenty seven years of age was fighting to carry a large red
bucket with water), restricts or limits personal hygiene and negatively influences
what tasks maybe carried out when.
An important task of this paper is to open the zone and to put it under the deepest
possible observations so that lessons of value might be learnt, so that the internal
patterns of socio-economic life maybe observed and understood.

Two Models

Below are given two extreme models of individual and social development as
exist in the area under observation.
Model 1
Sister Alice* (not real name) lives in the hills of Hiberna in a two bed room
house. She lives alone, and is above fifty years of age. Sister Alice in the
recent past earned her upkeep from farming, however owing to diabetes and
hypertension she is no longer able to continue active work in the fields.
It is said that she asked some men from the village to farm her two plots of
land, roughly about a combined five acres of land. The men farming her lots
of land, have given her nothing in return, regardless of the size of their
harvest. Recently they drained the tank from which she obtains water in
order to water their cows, leaving her to walk a distance of fifteen minutes for
water. Last night the 25th. March 2015, a young man came in the evening and
tried to chop down one of the dry trees on her land for fire wood. When
accosted by her, the young man told her to go and suck her mother. In
addition, while the house is wired for electricity, she is not able to afford to
connect to the utility.
This lady keeps a mongrel bitch a female kitten and two pups, none of which
she can afford to feed. The dogs are in the main fed pot water with food
scraps mixed with some gravy. Thus all the animals are of very low weight.
Given the situation, the observer, who is also resident at the location, told her
that it would be a good idea to get rid of the dogs and the kitten and keep
some chicken which could provide her with eggs and meat at some later
point. The fact that the pups drops their stool (feces) all over the yard and
the kitten and even the mal-nourished bitch would kill the chickens, for her
without a coop, chicken rearing and her pet keeping could not go together.
She is afraid that could she build a coop, thieves would have it much easier to
get all of the chicken. Sister Alice however prefers to go under nourished
herself as far as eggs are concerned and without chicken farming than
getting rid of the pets which she is cannot afford to feed, in particular items
with high protein content, meat, bones etc.
Sister Alice, unlike the norm in the region, is a bit outside the family
colony/compound, although she is not surrounded completely by strangers
and she is not far from family members. Sister Alice seem to earn a small
income by sitting in with a friend on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays ,
from 6.00 p.m. (1800) to 8.00 am the next morning. Additionally she seems
to be self-sufficient in some starchy food crops such as yams, banana, arrowroot etc, she however cultivates no vegetables or spices, this seems to be a
habit in the entire area, in earlier days, in kitchen gardens, one would find
coffee trees, banana, scotch bonnet pepper, Rose Mary and or Thyme, some

callollo, beans on the nearby plants etc. Yhe observer has not seen so far any
of the traditional kitchen gardens, indicating a greater dependence on items
bought either in the stops, market and or supermarkets.
Sister Alice has no coverage under the National Insurance Scheme which
would have ensure that she has at least a minimum pension, while she has
an adult daughter overseas, she claims to have problems in making contact
with this daughter and does not get any assistance from her daughter. Sister
Alice attends Church twice weekly, however the observer is not able to verify
the all or most of the claims made by Sister Alice and thus hold with
questions all pieces of information received from this and all other unverified
sources.

Model 2
There is a half Indian family which lives near to the Bethany Infant and All
Age School. This family similar to many others in the community is an
extended family. On the family land there are four spacious and
modern housing units, a large garage which accommodates two open
back vans (trucks) among other vehicles. This compound and life
style of the residents, strongly reminds the observer of a similar but
smaller premises at Great House Circle, at the foot of the hill of
Belgrade Heights, to the right of the last stop of the numbers 44 and
46 Jamaica Urban Transit Co. buses.
Not all the members of this family are farmers, as there is at least one high
school teacher and a shop keeper in the family in addition to one full
time farmer-the head of the clan, family patriarch. The head of the clan
cultivates several lots of land in and around the community (he is
always working) , rears several heads of cattle and the observer had
heard the sounds of pigs coming from a structure not far right hand
side of one of the housing units, in addition to seeing several well
taken care of heads of goats tied not far from the feeding lot used for
calves. The cow kept are both hot iron branded and electronically
tagged, which indicates a very high level of wariness of cow thieves
and other types of thieves.
While the larger of the two open back vans appear to be used in the main for
in town business , the smaller is used for farming operations
dropping off, collecting and delivering.
This family seems to be doing particularly well because it has stuck together,
the different social prestige of various employments or professions has
not served to push the family members apart, in fact the family taken
together is secured by multi cycle and multi-source income flows.

This family, equally to all other families, had several choices in how to
allocate its resources. Firstly the family could have used the lot of land
it used to build the housing units for cultivation, thus forcing relatives
and or children either to purchase their own housing lot elsewhere or
to live in rented premises, both which would have meant an increase in
the costs faced by family members.
Given the very limited amount of land the family has at its disposal, it could
have decided not to rear cattle. Instead of taking that course, the
Patriarch instead used the feed lot method of animal rearing which
meant that the demand for land for rearing is greatly reduced ,
additionally he uses the very small lot of land by the Bethany Moravian
Church Cemetery and the outer fields of the Bethany All Age and
Primary School for grazing. The edges of the foot path by the
cemetery are used for the grazing of goats. This approach helps both
the Church and the school to reduce their landscaping costs.
The Patriarch rather than complaining about the lack of land to use for
cultivation, he uses lots of uncultivated land in other areas of the zone,
for example he uses a lot of land between the villages of Shafton and
Lambert for the cultivation of yams.
Additionally his wife of advancing years, could have followed the example of
some other women in the community and take a seat around a wash
tub, indeed given that there are several working persons in the family
and at least two teenagers who attend school, she would have had
enough clothing to wash to keeper her occupied daily.
Instead she operates a small shop bar, which is well stocked and has a good
size clientele. On weekends, the Patriarch carries in his open back
van , fire wood which is used to cook bar food for the clients of his
wifes shop/bar who gather there on Friday and Saturday evenings. The
teenager in particular the girl, at times operates the shop/bar during
the holidays and before the evenings on weekends, thus ensuring that
the managerial skills and knowledge of the family is passed down from
one generation to the other.
It is important to note the significance of the attitude taken by the wife of the
patriarch in regards to life and work. This is importance for two reasons:- (!)
Girls and young women growing up must be able to visualize a realistically
possible and obtainable future which has more for them than a life sentence
around a wash tub, equally, both parents of female children must be able to
hope for their daughters more than a life with a good man who will provide
for her, and who does not mistreat her (2) A young woman or woman of
working age must be able to see themselves as being more than breeders
and washers of dirty clothes. She must be able realize that she does not
need to depend on the kindness or generosity of any man in order to go
through life or to take care of her children. This is particularly important

because many males do not believe that they have any moral obligation to
take care of their children and who believe that their manhood is measured
by the number of women they get pregnant and the number of children they
have.
One notes here that this attitude to women also extend to Men of The Cloth as
was most recently shown by a Bishop who sought to argue that men were
intended to have several women and that he would have loved to have three
wives. Thus in this context the example shown by the wife of the patriarch
and the other women in the zone who divorced their wash basins and
washing brushes, during the week in exchange for activities which lead to
their own gainful employment and income generation is of tremendous
importance.
The Residents Of The Zone
The over one hundred and twenty adult residents of the zone under
consideration fall somewhere between the two cases or models given
above. In going forward, this paper will do a critical examination of the
possible reasons for why such a state of affair exist and why there is
such a marked distinction in the distribution of wealth.
The Voluntary Poor
There are several cases of the voluntary poor among several families and
households in the region, households which are in the main headed by
individuals who are under the age of forty five years of age.
A common feature of these households are:-1) A refusal of the family to use
available land for cultivation, even where there are very nearby lots of
land which have being left idle and in bushes for years and simple
arrangements could be made to put the lots of unused land to use. (2)
The women of these households, seem to have entered into some type
of contractual arrangement with their households to wash six days
per week for the major part of the day and (3) where these incidents of
voluntary poverty occur, these families based on observation owe
their economic state to a lack of a developed sense of responsibility,
coupled with relatively low levels of comfort (they are comfortable with
little) rather than owing their socio-economic state to a lack of
resources.
In many instances, young people were introduced to agriculture as a form of
social punishment and not as a career choice nor as a means to the
creation of a stable and successful life; a view which in turn means that
the parents concerned sub-consciously look down on themselves, the
mother looking down on herself and her load wash tub and the father
looking down at himself and everything around him, looking down at

how he earns his living led by the views which are socially reinforced
(the term dutty puppa has rural roots), thinking of themselves as
lesser beings when compared with the teachers, pastors, nurses, civil
servants, police men and women. This is further complicated by the
fact that instant gratification is not possible in either crop culture nor in
animal rearing.
These views mean in practice that even if a family which sees itself in this
light is given land and tools, the motivation and or drive to put the land
into production might not be there, because of what agriculture means
to them. The relatively high levels of youth and female unemployment
in and around Mile Gully and or Christiania are in part manifestations of
the above attitudinal factors. An unemployed youth will leave his home
and travel miles, begging rides from passing motorists to reach Mile
Gully or Christiania to hang out with his friends.
Many of the poorer families do not seem to recognize the amount of savings
a family can make from the having of a kitchen garden. The
experience and practices of the security guard and his wife, of 7 East
Greater Portmore , both with roots in Clarendon is alien to the
average poorer family in this region even as past practices have been
discarded in favor of commercialism and a buying all and everything
culture.
The youth will spend J$300.00 (US$2.61) per day on transportation costs and
a similar amount on lunch money to do a near minimum wage paying
job (minimum wage in Jamaica is J$5,600.00 or US $ 48.70 per week)
which gives him a yearly take home salary of J$ J$120,000.00 (costs of
transport and lunch subtracted).

However if the average farmer cultivates nine acres of land (3.642 2 hectares) ,
should the price per pound of yam and the revenue earned from the average acre of
land under yam cultivation be taken as the minimum acceptable earnings per acre
of land, then the earnings of the average farmer from one acre of yam is equal :$J40.00 (minimum acceptable price per pound of yam) times (x) 5 lbs (the weight of
the average harvested yam times (x) 400 (the average yield of yam from one acre
of land)=J$80,000. However given t5hat the farmer cultivates nine acres of land we
obtain:-J$720,000.00. Even when the costs of ploughing, planting, fertilizing and
harvesting, the average farmer does far better than the youth going into Mile Gully
or Christiania to do a hustling. The price of yam imputed here and the yield per acre
of land are significantly below the actual figures at the time of writing-March 2015.
Thus here one sees where the attitude to self, attitude to work on the land( the
resource available) and attitude to the velocity of rewards have combined to create
another layer of the deliberately poor and voluntary poverty. One notes that a
take home salary of J$720,000.00 is in keeping with the take home salary of many
urban middle income families.
The experience of the half-Indian family in Bethany in their usage of mini feed lots in
the rearing of cattle demonstrates that even on very small lots of land can be used
in such a way as to increase income flow to the household. It is based on the
earning potential of intensively reared goats and or rabbits and the size of lots
available near to the doors of the average household in the region under
observation, that the prospective for the engagement of women in agricultural
production is both viable as an economic venture and technically feasible. A cultural
challenge which the region has to overcome in seeking to reduce the level of
voluntary poverty is the fear of the woman with her own money, the fear of the
woman who has the ability to purchase with her own money, what she wants to
purchase and when she wants to purchase. With this also it is also important that
fathers and in laws of both genders come to the realization that a woman with a
wash tub can be pillar of strength to her husband and children without undermining
the role of the man as a provider.

The Demise Of The Animal Rearing Culture In The Region

The absence of a modern animal rearing culture in the region under observation is
in the main tied in with the demise of the capitalist large scale ranching culture
which for centuries existed in the region. The liberalization of the trade in animal
products which started in the late 1980s and picked up speed in the late 1990s and
early 2000s, kicked away the feet from under local beef producers, who were unable
to compete with cheaper beef and meat imports from the United States, here one
notes that one pound of local ox tail (a delicacy) as sold at the well known Cross
Roads Market, in St. Andrew costs far more than a pound of imported ox-tail. The

same price relationship holds true for Jamaican produced goat meat as compared
with imported goat meat.
Here it should be noted that the local cattle farmers did not think that feed lot
operations would have assisted them in meeting competition from abroad and this
was in part due to the cost of inputs such as feed, intensive cattle rearing demands
the availability of large quantities of relatively cheap high quality feed, an input,
which even up to this time the Jamaican food processing industry cannot produce
either at quantities required or at a price which the market is able to carry. Intensive
goat production is a relatively new to Jamaica, an with a few exceptions, goat
rearing was not seen as a commercial activity.
The popularization of condensed milk as a break fast substitute to cows milk,
resulted in the closure of the milk shops in the urban centers combined with the
importation of what was in fact dumped subsidized milk powder from Europe
destroyed the last of the large cattle farmers in the region and with them the
culture of milking both cows and goats. Where less than forty years ago it was the
culture of the small farmer to milk their goats for milk for the household and even
for sale in some cases, today this is no longer done. Even the poorest of home in
the region, located on the highest of hill, sees either condensed milk or milk powder
as the ideal input for the preparation of break fast , to be drank along with meals
and or for feeding infants.
Added to the above, the ever increasing theft of life stock has served to further
decrease the interest in the rearing of such. It was around 1971 as a child, the
observer living in Kingston, saw a man who rented an unused shop on Blunt
Street, in Hanah Town, to be used as a meat shop, shortly there after he bought
around ten large pigs , which were butchered in the yard. The meat was cleaned up
and sold elsewhere, in his meat shop no meat, nothing was sold, it was just an
address. The next time anything was heard about this meat shop owner he had
gotten chopped up by farmers somewhere in rural Jamaica, he was it was reported
rescued by police and spent some time in jail. At that time, even in West Kingston,
the theft of animals was a novelty, something to be read about in novels.
The demise of an animal rearing culture has also served to reduce the
attractiveness of agriculture among the youth. Animal rearing is much more
challenging and knowledge demanding than crop culture. Animals have to be fed,
watered, wounds have to be taken care of, illnesses treated, matings and in some
instances delivery of new born animals have to be supervised, weight gains or loses
monitored etc. Animal rearing also carry with it the bragging rights, who has the
biggest bull? whose cow gives the most milk? What is the weight of your pig? In
other words it gives the youth something to boast about, it builds self esteem even
as it encourages a person to study and research.

Animal rearing is also of immense value to those involved in crop cultivation- in the
Mile Gully to Christiania region of Northern Manchester, cattle is used by their
owners in the clearing of the land for cultivation, their droppings acting as a source
of fertilizer and in reducing the recovery time needed by the land, in addition to
providing an additional source of revenue when sold, thus putting the farmer far
ahead the urban white collar worker in terms of disposable income.
With rabbit meat being sold on average at about J$250.00 (US$2.17) per pound , a
small hutch which is able to provide twelve butchered and dressed rabbits per
month , earns the family an additional J$144,00 (US$1252.17), which for all intent
and purposes is the same from a revenue flow stand point the same as having an
additional acre of land under cultivation, with the additional benefit of providing
enough fertilizer to meet the need of two acres of land under yam and peas or
potato and red peas cultivation and pelts to be dried and sold to the tannery in
Kingston.
While cultivation using hoe, machete and fork might be very challenging for the
women with smaller frames in the region, even as the rearing of cattle might be
the intensive rearing of rabbits and small ruminants is an area in which had the
animal rearing culture not allowed to die, the presently unemployed women would
have gained employment at home.
The same is true with apiculture, a sector which was decimated by the American
Fowl Brew Disease, which further served to reduce the per acre revenue of land
under cultivation.

Other Observations On The Youth In Agriculture

The youth working in agriculture, apart from water boots, has no other
protective gear even if he or she is handling dangerous pesticides,
weedicides or smoke from the burning of fields.
It has been reported that a field Worker doing Days Wok can earn
J$1500.00 (US $10.00) per day in addition to two meals, breakfast and lunch.
On the vast majority of farm lots there is no shelter should there be a down
pour of rain or if there is a need for shelter. Neither are there any type of rest
rooms or eating facilities.
A tractor plough , a service which is offered in the community, takes roughly
half of a hour to plough one and a half acres of hillside land (the typical land
form) . There are instances in which it could be much more economical to
employ a tractor, however the social implications of such popularization of
the use of tractors could have a very negative impact on the poorer
households, which depends a lot on Days Work of one form or the other to
get by.

Days Work occurs at best four days in a crop season-field preparation and
harvesting. Spraying is equally done once or twice in a crop cycle. Earnings
depends on the number of farm lots the person gets to work on in a given
crop season. If for whatever reason the young person cannot get enough
Days Work in a given crop cycle his household could be faced with serious
financial challenges, one notes here that given the high level of dependency
of the average household on purchasing from the shops/supermarkets or
markets for even items such as tomato, callallo, escellion, onions , thyme or
even eggs- a week without or with insufficient money is felt very deeply by
the household.
Women are very rarely employed in Days Work and when they are, they are
employed in far smaller numbers than are the males.
A lot of land might be cleared and left to stand for weeks before the farmer
goes back to the land to carry out any type of planting. At least three such
cases were observed on the Hibernia property. This type of break in the work
flow, disrupts the income earning plans of those involved in Days Work. The
degree of certainty is very limited.
The number of unfinished construction projects in the region is not only a
manifestation of dreams delayed or put on hold, but also income earning
plans of Male Day Workers which have been frustrated.
One is brought up seeing ones parents involved in farming and does the
same, but farming is not seen as a line of business requiring skills in
planning, activity scheduling, budgeting, quality control, cost reduction
strategies, produce planning etc. Farming is seen as a type of rural hustling
requiring no training, education or special skills.
Business professionals attend workshops, seminars, courses and motivational
speakers to help them in their development. The farmers on the other hand
have no such facilities or programs to help them in their development.
While the Mile Gully Branch of the Jamaica Library Service is opened six
days , the observer has at no point seen any farmer of any age entering the
library to use any of the four desk to computer terminals in search of
technical information or to improve their knowledge in any branch of
agriculture.
The Mile Gully Branch Office of the RADA is opened every Friday from about
10.00 a.m to 3.00 p.m., the observer has not at any point seen any farmer or
person who seem to have an interest in farming entering that office in search
of advice.
Farming and agriculture have always been seen traditionally as a type of
social dumping ground for the unskilled, the uneducated, the unresourced
and those not wanted by urban society.
Some Aspects About The Farming and The Farmer

1. Yam is cultivated in lots of dimensions roughly about 25 feet by 40 ft., usually

on the edges of more desired plots of land, in gullies or on the more marginal
land.
2. The main crops cultivated in the region are, cabbage, carrots, Irish potatoes
and sweet potatoes.
3. Multi-cropping is not done in the region, and cultivated lots, regardless of the
crops planted are never weeded and thus are over run by weeds.
4. Agricultural output per acre is at least fifty percent below even the most
conservative estimated potential yield of the land.
5. There seems to be no understanding of the fact that weeds compete with the
planted crops for nutrients and actually reduce crop yields.
6. There is little awareness of the fact that Irish potato, tomatoes and Scots
Bonnet peppers are of the same family and in areas where one was affected
by plant diseases, be they viral, bacterial or of a fungal origin, extra care as
to paid to field/crop hygiene practices .
7. The ideology and view that Jamaica Is Blessed, you only need just to throw
seed in the yard and you will be surprised to see how they spring up, just put
in a banana sucker in the ground and you will see have led to very negative
real life implications for the agricultural practices.
8. Farmers do not plant yams by the acre but rather by squares, an acre
contains at least four squares. Thus if a square contains at least 200 heads of
yam, thus from an acre of yam one would expect to see at least 800 heads of
yam planted. The farmer by not cultivating yam by the acre, are able to
control both supply and price and additionally reserve larger space for the
planting of cash crops.
9. There is a farmer near to the Mile Gully Police Station, who plants yam and
cabbage. He has placed a bee box near to his yam field and two among his
cabbages. To this farmer the weeds are of benefit in his production of honey.
Any reduction in yield or revenue from either the yams or cabbages is fully
compensated from his earnings from honey and other bee products.
10.One hand there seems to be a demand that the small and medium size
farmers contribute more to the economic growth and development of the
country while increasing the countrys food security, while on the other hand
there is very limited access to the type of support and extension services (for
example the Ministry of Agriculture does not have a single Veterinary doctor
or technician serving the entire area in and around Christiania and Mile
Gully), the RADA office in Mile Gully, does not have a PC and one doubts if the
officer has been given a lap top) needed by the farmers coupled with very
low quality community leadership.
11.There seems to be a lack of trust between the members of the farming
community which hampers the formation and or undermines any form of
farmers organization. According to one older farmer, if you and your fellow
farmers agreed to sell for a farmers potato marketing co-operative potato at
J$60.00 per pound, it is highly possible that there will be farmers returning to
state that they could only get $40.00 per pound, while pocketing the

difference. An elderly farmer claimed that she sent two very large pumpkins
to a haggler to sell. For these very large pumpkins which weigh no less than a
combined twenty pounds, a farmer who was used as a middle man brought to
her J$150.00 and she was not supposed to argue about it. While the observer
is sure that the elderly lady in question is making a bad situation worse that
it is both these cases do point to the level of distrust which exists.
12.It was reported to this observer that a Chinese family which resided in
Havendale in a rented premises, planted a lawn of pak-chow, cabbages,
onions , cauliflower and all manner of vegetables, an action which upset the
neighbours who were of the view that the Chinese family was bringing down
the value of their investments. The average age of the average car driven in
this community is older than five years of age and average income under
J$5,000,000.00. In other words far less than the Chinese family income
intake. This attitude somehow seems also to be reflected in the attitudes of
the average family in the region under observation towards their kitchen
gardens.
13.The relative exclusion of women in direct agricultural production has
negatively influenced male productivity and the level of male employment in
the sector. For example the direct involvement of women in agriculture would
demand changes in the way work is carried out, its level of mechanization,
the technical content of basic tools, the level of protection against health
hazards such as pesticide available, the type and frequency of use of agropesticides, the state of animal rearing etc.
14.The causes of the relative backwardness in the agricultural practices in the
region and in the approaches taken by the farmers are in the view of the
observer:- (1) the failure in the transmission of knowledge and know how
between generations. Here one notes that the average youth cannot give the
name of the most commonly seed bushes growing on the stone walls in the
community. (2) The failure of stakeholders to provide the type of support and
the quality of leadership required. (3) The relatively low level of education
and the migration of the trained/ educated. (4) The learnt acceptance of
backwardness, low productivity and inefficiency. (5) The relative low costs of
access to farming lots which contributes to the coming into being a culture of
weed and bush cultivation. (6) a belief in ghosts and an entire set of
backward beliefs, for example the planting of the coco (yam) in or around
field and the planting of banana plants on the edge of the fields or in the
middle of the fields have less to do with multi-cropping and more to do with
superstitions.
15.The story of Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, Esau and Jacob seem to be written in
the fields, rather than the carrying out of modern agricultural practices. The
coco (yam) being Hagar, the banana plants being either Esau or Ishmael , the
weeds the Moabites and the planted crops the Children of Israel. The African
with his yellow yams is kept on the fringes or in the gullies. These practices
raises very interesting questions about ethno-agricultural and agro-racial

practices, however possible not much about maximizing agricultural output

and revenues.

The Church
The fact that the Church is the single largest social institution in the region
with the most members and the fact that there are even more Churches than
there are bars or places of drinking means that the role played by the Church
in the development or stagnation of the agricultural sector in the region
under consideration, cannot be ignored. The following are observations and
comments made on the basis of perceptions obtained from observations:a. While no religious domination or branch of the Church can point to a
political party over which it exerts influence or which it owns, both political
parties have their Churches. This reality undermines any independent
approach or views which might develop within the Church.
b. The Church is more concerned about the disposable income of the
congregation and less about the wealth of its membership. As such
although a given Church might be locally based (rurally based), it interests
and motivations are urban, and expanding the wealth base of the
congregation at the expense of its money income is not in the interest of
the Church. The Church seems to have a greater preference for a
minimum wage worker with some money income to a farmer with a crop
in the field, five pigs, three cows and seven goats but with very little
money (M1).
c. The pastors who led the construction of the Bethany Moravian Church
drank cows milk, goats milk, ate yam, sweet potato, Irish potato, coco
yam, yard fowl eggs, pork, beef goat meat and other local produce and
saved whatever could be saved. This attitude to the local economy is not
shared by todays pastors who have a social and ego need to be seen in
the supermarkets of Christiania or Mandeville pushing one or two packed
trolleys. This, puts even more pressure on the congregation and the
Church to move from wealth creation to the hunt for disposable income.
The effect of this preference for money attitude of the Church and its local
pastors are three fold:-(1) the pastor no longer has a relationship with the
land or the rural way of life and is no longer able to provide technical
guidance to the farming community and the farmers within the
congregation, one note that the Bethany Moravian Church is responsible
for the introduction of Irish potato cultivation in the region (2) the
members of the congregation sees their relationship with the Church and
the pastors in terms of money, one feels good going to Church when he or
she has money and is inclined to stay away when he or she has none, in
addition they no longer see the Church and its pastors as sources of
technical guidance and or support and (3) the youth who is technically
inclined is no longer at home in the Church or the pastor who have not

only lost his interest in the production cycle but also lost his or her
interests in the scientific underpinnings of agriculture, be it in crop culture
or in livestock rearing.
d. The observer has searched from the health clinic in Mile Gully to the
Greenvale Land Settlement Road, and cannot find a single new artifact of
community or social capital whose construction was led by the Church or
under the guidance of its leaders.
e. There are individuals within the Church who hold the view, that a farmer
having a drink with his friends at the bar, and is totally unimpaired, should
enter the Church to attend a service even if the service is one in which he
has an interest in. Secondly it seen as being offensive for the farmer to
leave a Church service and go across the road to finish a drink with his
friends. This attitude of the Church and its leading members has made the
Church a no go place for many farmers who possibly have otherwise
attend services and or meetings there.
Other Stake Holders
One note here that while the Manchester Cooperative Credit Union (1977)
and the National PC Bank provides loans, it does not provide the
technical support services and or guidance needed by the small or
medium farmers. One may get a loan to purchase ten goats or twenty
rabbits as breeding stock; however neither of these institutions
provides veterinary advice, marketing advice, book keeping advice or
any similar service.
This feature of these financial institutions makes them unable to meet the
needs of the unemployed mother or youth unable to meet the needs of
the farmer seeking to expand his or her farming operations.
While the average farmer does not visit the offices of the Rural Agricultural
Development Agency in Mile Gully, it does not imply that there is a lack
of need for the services of this organization. When the office of this
organization is open for business on a Friday in Mile Gully (between
10.00 am and 3.00 pm) the farmer is active in his field. What is needed
are more real life farm visits as against book entered farm visits. The
present state of agricultural practices questions the quality of any
book entered farm visits.
The Peoples National Party Mile Gully Office was visited in the month of March
2015, and information was requested about the Constituency
Development Plan and the Development Plan for the women in the
constituency, given the high level of unemployment and social
marginalization they encounter. This observer left the constituency
office with the strong feeling that the Constituency Office of the
Peoples National Party has no inklings of its role, duty and

responsibilities in economic and social development. The bad state of

repairs of the road in the community of Halifax, the absence of street
lights in sections of Bethany, Halifax and along the Greenvale Land
Settlement Road, indicates a total lack of concern about the safety of
the women and children who have to use those roads, the lack of an
active program to reduce the level of female unemployment in the
named communities is an indictment against the Peoples National
Party Constituency Office. (The observer states political bias and
preference as a supporter of the Peoples National Party)
Pri-Conclusion
The Greenvale Action Group in partnership with the Jamaica Social
Investment Fund carried out with World Bank Funding the rehabilitation
of the Greenvale Land Settlement Road, some years ago. There is
evidence on the road which shows that about some five years ago
citizen came together and used cement to patch the road. Sadly the
road is once again in bad condition owing to a lack of maintenance by
the Manchester Parish Council and poses a real health danger to
individuals who have to walk on that road in the night, given that there
are no street lights. At the Mile Gully Primary and All Age School, one
sees where JSIF again with stakeholders, undertook major repairs at
that school. These projects informs the observer that at some time in
the not distant past, the community came together to resolve its
problems and challenges; this however cannot happen now owing to
the very low quality of leadership shown at all levels of the region. It is
not the duty of any given National Development Agency or even the
Social Development Commission to seek to replace community
leadership or to do that which the residents of community and region
refuse to do for themselves, this fact is also of importance for all
students of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of
Technology, Jamaica. A community and or region in order to be helped
must make the first step in that to help themselves and on that basis
help is provided.
Conclusion
There are several reasons for the relative lack of development and the under
performance in the agricultural sector in the region under observation
in recent years. It is the considered opinion of the observer that the
following are the most important reasons:1. Bad crop culture, failure to weed, failure to multi crop etc.

2. The relative exclusion of women from nearly all branches of direct

involvement in agricultural production be it in the area of crop culture
or livestock rearing.
3. Relatively low educational levels of the farmers involved and the
outward migration of the educated.
4. The lack of institutional support for small and medium size farmers and
5. The refusal of the political representatives at the divisional and
constituency level to translate the political program of the governing
Peoples National Party into local plans with measureable and
achievable objectives.

Reference Notes, Mile Gully to Christiana Region

Development Partners Perspective

Global Perspectives in Rural Finance and Poverty

Alleviation
4th AFRACA Microfinance Forum
Lessons Learnt in Micro and Rural Finance
Service Provision in Africa
Kampala, Uganda
6-8 June, 2005

Calvin Miller
Senior Manager Rural Finance
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Rome, Italy
. As many know, the poor are not poor because they cannot manage their money; they are not
poor because their business activities are not profitable they are poor because their resource
base is too small. Simply speaking they have too little capital too little money and assets.
(page 1)
Many micro-entrepreneurs have high rates of return on the funds they use, but they lack access to
sufficient funds. Hence, despite often high returns to capital, especially working capital, their
very limited amount of funds available means their aggregate return remains low, thus
perpetuating a life in poverty. The microfinance movement exists to provide them that access to

funds. It was proven that with additional funds, many persons could multiply their earnings and
build for the future. This was especially true of small trade activities with a high turnover of
capital. (page 1)
The Year of Microcredit is also important to dispel the notion that the poor are irresponsible.
Indeed, it is an opportunity to show to the world that the poor tend to be very responsible users of
financial services they not only are bankable clients, but in fact they are a very important
market, and largely untapped financial market. Despite not having traditional sources of
collateral, the micro-entrepreneurs proved that peer group pressure as well as ones own selfinterest in a lasting source of finance were sufficient to ensure very high rates of repayment.
Microcredit is valuable, but it is also misleading it is important to share with the world that
the poor need and want more than credit. Both sides of the balance sheet are important, with
savings services being the most required by the poorest and vulnerable. But even savings and
credit services are not enough a multiplicity of products and services are desired to meet the
needs of this heterogeneous group of entrepreneurs and communities.
(page 1)

vehicle
roads

roadmap
driver
skills
steering and brakes
fuel
destination
rules and enforcement

lubricant and accelerator

. As shown in the following illustration, it is analogous to

greasing a wheel to make the vehicle go faster and more
efficiently; but it is only effective when the necessary
elements are present.

The poor, and the regions where a majority of them live, do not have
many of the elements for the vehicle to run smoothly. This is especially
true in the rural areas of developing countries where an estimated 51%
of the population and 70% of the developing worlds poor live1. These

means
supporting
infrastructure
vision
management
capacity
control
resources
markets
regulatory
framework
finance

households primarily depend on agriculture for their livelihood. FAO

embraces the MDG declaration. It is the UN agency tasked with
agricultural and food development support and leadership and fully
understands the importance that this sector must contribute in order to
achieve the MDG goals. (page 3)

My notes:- The above is not true for the Northern Manchester

Region, the levels of poverty is far below the numbers
indicated, however there are significant pockets of poverty,
especially among the young people who suffer from high
levels of unemployment and women who are faced with even
higher levels of unemployment and hardship. Women with
children and poor responsible but struggling fathers form
a segment of critical concern.
The future of rural poverty alleviation is investment
in all aspects of rural development. Investment in non
agricultural rural development is beneficial and
complementary to agricultural development not in
competition with it, as it is sometimes perceived. Following
the same concept, rural finance is moving and must
move beyond agricultural finance and address both the
growing market of non agricultural households and
businesses and its own agricultural finance risk through a
more diversified portfolio of investments. (page 4)

Business development of all kinds is needed in rural areas. With more

business, there is the economic incentive to build better roads, electrical
lines and competitive schools and services in rural areas, all of which
improve the competitiveness of agricultural production. Naturally, these
also create more markets and production opportunities for farmers, as
well as income stability and diversification through off-farm
employment opportunities for their families. (page 4)

As illustrated to
the right,
agricultural credit
and even
agricultural
finance is only a
portion of rural
finance.
Microfinance is a
part of both rural
and urban finance
with the major
activity in urban
and peri-urban
areas and very little in agricultural credit activities.
Business
Rural areas need money to alleviate poverty both debt and equity. In
low-income countries it cannot be expected to be made available in
sufficient, or in some cases even significant amounts by the public
sector. The private sector has been the driving force behind the
success stories of high-growth economies. Rural development can
only occur when the rural area is able to attract and sustain rural
investment. Three things must be in place a conducive operating
environment, suitable financial products and services and attractive
returns to investment. As shown in the following graph, investment is
the key to growth.
Farm and non farm business opportunities begin with a market
competitive market access. Increasing or even maintaining market
share is a challenge. Global trade is not yet a level playing field and
subsidies of $350 billion a year to agricultural producers in OECD
countries are another barrier to developing country exports. The average
tariffs on imports from developing countries declined between 1993 and
2003, yet tariffs on food exported from low-income countries to highincome OECD countries increased.2 In addition, agricultural marketing
is under much higher quality standards, requiring higher investment into
technologies and processes just in order to remain in the market. Hence,
investment at all levels in agricultural marketing is critical. (pp 4-5)

My notes:- The above is very true for the zone under

2 World Bank Website, www.worldbank.org/data/wdi2005/wditext/Cover, May 2005

consideration. Even as one thinks of improving efficiency and

productivity in agricultural land usage, the processing and
marketing aspects must be addressed at the same time. In fact
land efficiency and productivity have lagged behind in part as
a result of the absence of suitable marketing infrastructure
and very low levels of agro processing which would act as
drivers to the farming sector. Hence is very important to
place special emphasis on the developing this sector. If I
cannot create a job for myself in keeping with my training I
would have failed to create the changes most urgently needed.

Improving access to
financial services is of
course fundamental to
building competitive
business capacity.
Improving
investments in
agriculture is
dependent on access
to appropriate
financial services. At
the production level,
financing for agriculture
can enable farmers to
introduce irrigation or
other technologies;
finance input and
marketing costs; bridge the pre- and post-harvest funding gaps to avoid having to
sell immediately following harvest at lower prices; smooth seasonal income flows
through deposit facilities and access to remittances or insure against price or yield
fluctuations. Also, when agribusinesses are not able to access financial services,
they are constrained in financing and supplying farmers with inputs and to buy,
store and process farm produce. (page 5)

Technology
Technology is both an answer and a curse for rural poverty alleviation in Africa. It opens new
doors of opportunity. Cell phones and internet kiosks help small producers to be informed of

prices and obtain higher prices and/or forward contract sales for hedging risk or leveraging
financing. (page 5)
But the advances in technology are bypassing many rural households since they lack the
financial and educational capacity to take advantage of such rapid changes. This in turn limits
production and marketing competitiveness, and hence pushes families out of their livelihoods.
Public and private investment in this area is important to improve the opportunities for rural
communities. (page 6)
Agricultural credit organizations were often directed to focus on production. Microfinance, on
the other hand, has also been instrumental in recognizing the multiplicity of both business and
social needs of the household. Finance is not only needed for production, but equally so for
school fees, health cost, housing and death, and for services such as remittances, accessible
savings outlets and insurance. Yet, despite the recognition, small microfinance organizations
have typically not had the resources and product diversity to address many of those needs,
although through many innovative linkage models it is becoming more common.
An important concern in rural development
is what to do with those left behind. Even
the microfinance lending, despite the MF
focus on poverty level clients, has tended to
concentrate on households with ongoing
business activities generally not the
poorest or most vulnerable. Young
entrepreneurs and persons wishing to start
new businesses who do not have a business
track record find it hard to obtain financing
to start a new business.
Self-Help group savings and other savings
approaches for those who are poor are
useful in mitigating household cash flow shortages and liquidity excesses and in averting some
crises. There are many examples of SHGs building small cash reserves but typically
these are not farm families who cannot save regularly. Even so, such mini-savings
approaches largely mitigate the effects of poverty as they are not enough to pull
oneself out of poverty. (page 6)

In countries where subsistence agriculture predominates, the crucial role of women as food
producers is well-documented, including by FAO. Helping to eliminate discriminatory policies
against women, improving their access to land, agricultural inputs, financial services and skills,
and promoting labour-saving technologies all work in favour of empowerment, equality and
better lives for women and their families. Microfinance has been instrumental in raising
awareness of and working to address social, gender and ethnic equity issues which hold families
in poverty. (page 6)

My note:- While the economy of the region is far more advanced that those
spoken of in the paragraph above, the conditions facing women holds true.

Very Critical To Note

Moving Out of Poverty with Beans and Potatoes But Not All
The introduction of off-season cultivation of beans and potatoes nearly doubled average family incomes
while significantly reducing income seasonality and vulnerability. The success, which continues to this
day, nearly 15 years after the introduction, was made possible due to a combination of key factors:
Finance Off-season crop production was only made possible due to the provision of loan capital to
Moving Out of Poverty with Beans and Potatoes But Not All
allow planting of the crop before the traditional crops of rice and maize could be sold and the opening of
markets for the produce.
Markets Beans were a new crop and an export and a local market needed to be developed. Potatoes
were a traditional crop, but new to the region and hence market links were needed
The introduction of off-season cultivation of beans and potatoes nearly
Technology Seed testing and market research were critical to be able to produce competitively and
doubled
average family incomes while significantly reducing income
reach the high potential
markets.
seasonality
and vulnerability.
The success,
continues
to this
day,
Organization Capacity
development
of farmer organizations,
linkages which
with input
suppliers and
markets
nearly
15
years
after
the
introduction,
was
made
possible
due
to
a
and basic infrastructure development were needed to build the capacity and economies of scale.
Education Farmer
training was of
needed,
not only to build the technical skills for the new production but
combination
key factors:
also for the rural households to adjust how they manage their time and finances.
Ongoing impact tracking confirmed the obvious with higher net income, many moved out of poverty
and houses become
Finance
better, more
Off-season
bicycles and trucks
crop production
appeared and was
more only
children
made
went possible
to school. due
For this
to the
majority of families,
loan repayments
madeto
onallow
time and
savings accounts
in thebefore
cooperative
provision
of loanwere
capital
planting
of the crop
the grew.
traditional
crops of rice and maize could be sold and the opening of markets for the
Yet, for a minority, things did not go as well. Some of these farmers plots of land were more prone
produce.
to drought or to poor drainage and disease. Some households' heads of household were sick.
Others simply had poor management and/or bad luck. For any of these farmers with loans for
Markets Beans were a new crop and an export and a local market
potatoes which require a relatively large initial investment in seed, a major loss of the crop could spell
needed
developed.
Potatoes
were
traditional
but new
disaster. While rice,
maize to
andbe
beans
generally produced
enough
to afeed
the familiescrop,
and generate
a to the
regionthey
and
hence
market
links were
small amount of income,
were
almost
never enough
to take needed
the smallholder families out of poverty.
Potatoes, and other high-value crops, definitely did take many people out of poverty, as well as put
Seed
testing
and
market
research
to be able to
some into deeperTechnology
poverty. Even when
they
are only
a few,
their plight
is notwere
only acritical
social dilemma
competitively
andfor
reach
highservice
potential
markets.
but is also a real produce
business cost
and risk concern
their the
financial
providers.
The solution is
also not easy to finance more potatoes production for them the next season can bring them out of their
Capacity
development
of farmer organizations, linkages
hole; or can digOrganization
it deeper and make
loan recovery
even more difficult.
with input suppliers and markets and basic infrastructure development
were needed to build the capacity and economies of scale.Miller - Bolivia

(page 7)

Education Farmer training was needed, not only to build the technical
skills for the new production but also for the rural households to adjust how
they manage their time and finances.

Ongoing impact tracking confirmed the obvious with higher net income,
many moved out of poverty and houses become better, more bicycles and
trucks appeared and more children went to school. For this majority of

My comments:- Even as outlined above, the introduction of new approaches

and methods will serve to propel many households forward, the gap between
the more able and willing families and the less able and willing families will
increase significantly, thus the need for a community social safety net will
always remain. Even more unfortunately the process could create a new
rural middle class at the expense of the old rural middle class if not wisely
managed.
Twelve key challenges for achieving this goal are laid out below, as foreseen by rural finance specialists.
While these are recognized obstacles to overcome, are they the most important questions? What are the
root causes and with which ones can we have the most impact? What is missing? What is not important?
Should the focus be more on adapting products to fit the constraints or on addressing the constraints?
How must the responses to the key issues fit together in order to be effective.
Key challenges for rural financial service provision
Vulnerability Constraints
1. Systemic Risk rural incomes, especially among the agriculturalists, are highly susceptible to similar
risks at the same time. Weather is the most uncontrollable and often devastating risk but disease and
plagues are similarly important. Failures in agriculture affect not only the farmer households and the
production and marketing linkages but also the rural non-farm economies that revolve around and
depend upon those income flows. The most problematic by far is farm credit because of higher risk.
2. Market Risk especially in developing countries, there both cyclical and seasonal price fluctuations
of agricultural commodities, not only due to local production variation but also affected by outside
forces such as political price and exchange controls, subsidies and globalization.
3. Credit Risk collateral, especially mortgage, is a missing element in most rural finance, thus
increasing the risk of the lender. Similarly, collateral substitutes may be costly in both financial terms
as well as social stigma risk terms as can be the case with peer lending. Other support services and
information networks such as credit bureaus are often not available to help lower the risk. For term
lending, a financial gap risk between sources and uses of funds poses another risk constraint.
Operational Constraints
4. Investment Returns rural capital revolves slowly, with often one or less frequently two crops per
year. For investment capital, the returns are even lower and in spite of that are often faced with very
low profit margins. Hence the margins for error are much less than for example in commerce or most
microfinance, which tend to have high returns per unit of funds invested and higher profit levels.
5. Low Investment and Assets the relative poverty in rural areas causes common crises to become
major crises due to the lack of asset cushion. Any loss of expected income through sickness or
production losses cause significant impact. In compensation, traditional networks and production risk
minimization become more important than profit maximization. The small asset base also reduces
savings and borrowing capacity, thus constraining economies of scale in the use or provision of
services.
6. Geographical Dispersion rural areas in many countries are characterized by a low population
density and high dispersion, which is coupled with a relatively low market potential. The low market
potential is usually accompanied by poor services, making access and communication difficult, and

hence cause high operating costs for both production and marketing, as well as for access and
delivery of services.
Capacity Constraints
7. Infrastructural Capacity poor communication, pitiful roads, unequipped schools and missing
social and health services decrease efficiency of operations, discourage new services and increase the
outflow of the most talented and resourceful persons and a reluctance of educated families to live in
rural communities.
8. Technical Capacity and Training a relatively unskilled rural population reduces opportunity for
ready access and adaptation to new technologies and employment. The lack of capacity affects not
only the productivity and competitiveness in the changing marketplace, but also the ability to find
trained staff for service provision.
9. Social Exclusion cultural, linguistic, gender, racial, religious and educational constraints affect
market and financial integration. Such barriers reduce production and marketing efficiencies. These
are required in order to compete effectively in the marketplace and thereby generate income and
levels of assets needed to reduce poverty and vulnerability. HIV/AIDS makes this even worse in
many countries.
10. Institutional Capacity while there is an abundance of organizations in rural areas, the relative
capacity is lacking. This includes management and technical capacity, size/economies of scale,
competitive viability, economic integration and often risk-bearing capacity. Even when urban based
institutions have the capacity to reach into rural areas, there is little incentive to do so. An exception
to the capacity constraint is at the micro level where the social fabric is often strong. It can be
sufficient for the low level of operations typically undertaken. With sufficient organization and
experience, these groups may also form linkages with intermediaries of higher institutional capacity.
Political and Regulatory Constraints
11. Political and Social Interference loans can be forgiven, savings can be withheld, interest rates can
be capped, mortgages can be rendered useless and payments can be suspended due to decree. Even
danger is not uncommon; hence uncertainty can become an insurmountable hurdle.
12. Regulatory regulations and/or a lack of enforcement of them hinder rural as well as urban
environments. Land tenure regulations, banking laws, exchange rate manipulation and tax
considerations are examples of such constraints that destabilize and/or hinder viability of business
and financial operations in rural areas. (pp 9)

Examples of responses to these challenges are shown below.

Key Challenges Affecting Rural Finance

Category of
Challenge

Vulnerability
Systemic risk
Market risk
Credit/financial
risk

Operations
Profitability/
investment
returns
Poverty/lack of
assets
Low-density
dispersion

(page 10)

Responding to the Constraints Desig

RFI Delivery Approaches and Methodologies

Constraints and
Issues
Weather
Plagues,
diseases
Prices
Production
Useable
collateral
Demand
preferences
Health and
family needs
Low growth
potential
Low velocity
of capital
Noncompetitive
technologies
Lack of
market integration
Lack or
quality of roads and
communication
Low
efficiencies of
business operations
High
operating costs

Ensure RFI diversification of products and sectors

Promote diversified income opportunities at the household level
Promote savings to reduce vulnerability
Evaluate the capacity at household level
Use lending policies to support agricultural and environmental
sustainability
Apply market-oriented pricing
Have well-conceived approaches for restructuring after crises,
combining responsibility and realism
Develop strategic linkages for supportive services
Rural Finance Institution Investment Returns:
Appropriate interest rates that serve both businessperson and
financial institution
o Diversify portfolio farm & non-farm activities
o Build economies of scale processing efficiency, scale in lending
o Stream-lined processes for pre-qualified clients based on past
business performance
Rural Clients:
o Savings, not just credit asset for borrowing
o Policy / advocacy for land tenure and clear natural resource rights
o Community mobilization to address poor infrastructure and
education
Low-Density Dispersion:
o Franchising / low-cost branching
o Linking with savings and credit cooperatives
o Linking large buyers / suppliers - market linkages
Group lending
Partnering / collaborating with NGOs and locaservices address
non-financial needs
o

A Vision for the Future in Rural Finance

With an emphasis on poverty alleviation and the MDGs, rural finance will remain of high
interest to governments, donors and of course rural households. It will be a frontier challenge
as urban and peri-urban financial services to the poor become more saturated the growth will
move toward the rural areas. But what will it look like? Some thoughts are noted below:

Rural Finance on the Horizon

Change

Rationale

Consolidation In countries where MFI and RFI services have been

of RFIs
available for longer periods of time, market saturation
and intense competition of the easier to reach borrowers
have already occurred. Consolidation by the more
efficient and aggressive will force out others.
Full-Service
Clients want a multiplicity of services. Full service

Provision
provision will be the tendency. Single loan products like
those of early MFIs or agricultural credit only services of
agricultural banks will disappear multi-line loans, lines
or credit, savings options, remittances, insurance, etc.

will be offered.
Financial
Linkages

Non-financial
Linkages
Regulation

Loan Capital

Value Chain
Finance

Risk

Effect
Lower costs to clients
Loss of local
ownership and control

Multiplicity is a large
benefit to clients
Trend is a detriment to
small service providers
Technology reduces costs
for credit lines which
become popular
Financial linkages and partnerships will increase.
Greater outreach and
Almost no provider can directly provide a full set of
access to all areas
services efficiently and will link with specialized
Stronger and more
companies (insurance, leasing, venture capital, etc.) for
comprehensive services
services and/or niche organizations for outreach (NGOs,
SelfHelp Groups/SACCOS, etc.)
Training, technology access, market linkages and
Increased specialization
business services are needed for rural development and Increased access to
for most effective use of financial services. Linking, and
services for clients
in some cases partnering, will be advantageous for RFIs.
Regulation will make it harder for semi-formal (NGO Tighter control and
type) lenders to operate.
systemized reporting
Savings and private sector capital will be the norm, with Subsidized finance will
donor loan capital becoming relatively insignificant.
largely disappear a loss
RFIs will become largely client savings financed with
to some groups
investment funds, securitization and bonds also growing Funds will be more
in importance. A role for Apex Funds will continue but
available, without
with a private sector focus and specialized investor funds
rationing
will grow as the financing of RFIs moves closer to Wall
Street finance.
Growing acceptance of trader finance with increased
Increased access to
vertical integration in production and marketing, coupled
finance from traders,
with improved information systems and better regulation
marketing companies and
will drive this financing option to be used more in the
suppliers.
future. Use of contract farming, inventory credit,
Benefits and risks of
forward contracting and leasing can be expected to grow.
sales tied to finance
Risk management will improve mitigation through
Improved stability of

Rural Finance on the Horizon

Change

Rationale

Management

portfolio and client diversification, improved analysis

and information tracking and through use of insurance
products will make the systemic and unique risks of rural
finance less risky and more mainstream.
Agricultural & Most agriculture and rural development banks have

Development
either semi-privatized (at least in how they are managed)
Banks
or have been closed down. This will continue but these
banks will continue to play an important role in many
countries.

NGOs

Donors

Governments

Clients

NGOs direct role in rural finance provision will decrease

significantly as is already happening in some regions.
Some will transform into financial entities and others

will focus on capacity building and civil society issues.

Donor emphasis continues moving away from provision
of loan capital toward rural financial system
development and capacity building.
Pressure will continue from agricultural production,

investment and technology projects to have directed

credit lines.

Effect
rural lenders
Linkages with insurance
and other specialist
companies will increase
Subsidies will decrease
and the banks will more
closely mimic private
bank operations
Directed credit programs
will diminish
Loss of RF income
source for some NGOs
Professionalization of
financial services
Stronger financial
systems and much less
subsidized loan funds
Directed loans will
continue where adequate
financing alternatives are
missing
Closer coordination or
Min. of Agriculture with
Ministries of Finance,
Trade and Commerce

Governmental participation in financing and in directive

finance will drop but its role in regulation and
supervision will increase as the rural financial service
industry evolves. Its role increases in developing
enabling financial and rural market and supportive
infrastructure.
Rural household and business clientele will grow and
More incorporation of
will have more access to an array of financial and
rural households in
complementary services.
financial services