Rocky Point Fishers Await Sanctuary To Ease Environmental Issues, Low Fish Catch

by Zadie P. Neufville

This article was first published by InterPress Service on June 2, 2023
Long before the COVID-19 Pandemic, fishers at the Rocky Point fishing beach in Clarendon were forced to venture farther out to sea to make a living or find alternatives to make ends meet.

This once-prime fishing village attracted fishers from up and down the coast. Men like Ephraim Walters, travelled from his hometown in Belmont, 100 or so kilometres (62 miles), up the coast, to Rocky Point, some 30 years ago, and never left.

Rocky Point is Jamaica’s largest fishing community and was once a destination for south coast fishers. But decades of environmental neglect, mismanagement, and poor fishing practices are taking their toll, pushing fishermen into destitution.

In the old days, Walters recalls, fishermen went to sea every day and made enough to build homes, support their families, and school their children. Back then, one needn’t go too far because the 24-kilometre sea shelf at Rocky was the place to be: “We could drop the net in the bay, and we would pull it together with a whole lot of fish, but these days we have to go further out to sea for far less”.

“Sometimes you go out, and you don’t catch a thing, and you can’t buy back the gas you use to go out,” he says.

With too many fishers chasing too few fish, he now travels the 96.5 kilometres (60 miles) to the offshore fishing station at Pedro Banks, using hundreds of gallons of fuel and spending between three and five days to get a good catch. But even then, he says, the value of the catch may not cover the cost of the trip.

The challenges in Rocky Point are a snapshot of the Jamaican fisheries sector, where too many fishers chase too few fish. Former University of the West Indies lecturer Karl Aitken says Rocky’s problem began as many as 30 years ago. As a master’s student in the 1980s, he says he had been recording declining catch numbers even then.

Data from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) show that only 26,000 of the estimated 40,000 fishermen on the island are registered. Marine catch data between 1986 and 1995 shows a downturn in catch rates from 9,100 metric tonnes to 4,200 metric tonnes per year. There are expansions of the commercial conch fishery that began in 1991 and the lobster fishery.

The consensus is that Jamaica’s fishing problems began with a series of natural and man-made events in the 1980s and 1990s, which resulted in the death of 85 per cent of the island’s reefs and a drastic decline in fish catches. As inshore areas became less productive, pressure mounted on the offshore resources at Pedro Cays.

The 2017 State of the  Environment report points to the growing numbers of fishers as a threat to the environment, noting that the island’s nearshore artisanal finfish and lobster fisheries are potentially environmentally deleterious and associated with overfishing and harvesting.

“The greatest potential for environmental impact is in the fisheries sub-sector is associated with the marine finfish sector which continues to grow to supply domestic markets,” the report says.

Walters long for the promised fish sanctuary which he believes will minimise destructive behaviours and save the livelihoods of Rocky Point’s fishermen. Not only are fish stocks collapsing, but the high-value fisheries like conch and lobster are also vulnerable as more people go after the resource. Since 2000, the government has shuttered the conch fishery twice first, when a row over quota resulted in a lawsuit and again in 2018 after a collapse of the resource.

Former director of Fisheries Andre Kong explains that in both cases stocks were low. But in 2018, the fishery was on the verge of collapse. Some believe that the conch and lobster fisheries should remain closed for another few years, but fishermen believe that without proper protection, the resources would be plundered by poachers as happened during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Fishing beaches around Rocky Point have already established sanctuaries which local fishers say have helped to boost their catch rates and the size of the fish they catch. In the neighbouring Portland Bight, three marine protected areas have been established across the parishes of St Catherine and Clarendon.

In the 73-year-old Walker’s birth parish of Westmoreland, the Bluefields Fisherman’s Friendly Society led by Wolde Christos, established one of the largest of the island’s 18 fish sanctuaries in 2009 to boost the falling catch rates, protect local marine life such as the hawksbill sea turtles that nest there, and reduce high levels of poaching.

The sanctuary covers more than 1,300 hectares (3,200 acres). It is working, Christos explains, noting that a government grant helps the fishermen who have been licensed as fish and or game wardens run a tight ship, keeping illegal fishers out.

The pandemic made things worse for many fishers due to the loss of markets. In a report to parliament last year, Minister Pearnel Charles Jr. said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused disruption in fish production and value chains with the losses of markets locally and overseas, and higher input costs, resulting in significant increases in operational expenses. An estimated USD23 million in losses was sustained in the fisheries sector during 2020 alone.

On the beach, some fishers are doing anything they can to survive. Some are part-time boat builders/ repairmen, electricians, or even mechanics; others now clean fish for buyers to make ends meet. And if the whispers are correct, many have turned to illegal fishing.

Complicating the issue is the fact that aside from regulated fisheries of conch and lobsters, Jamaica has no limit on the amount or size of fish that can be taken. There is almost no data available for analysis, and mesh and net sizes have more or less no effect on the reaping of juvenile fish.

In keeping with commitments and international agreements, in 2018, the government unveiled a new Fisheries Act. It established the National Fisheries Authority to replace the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen the management and legislative framework of the sector. The act is expected to increase compliance in registration, increase opportunities for aquaculture and increase fines and prison terms for breaches.

(Original article is here)

Jamaica Walking a Tightrope Between Boosting the Economy and Cutting Emissions in COVID-19 Era

by Zadie Neufville

Jamaica has more than a million motor vehicles contributing to increased emissions and traffic jams like this one at the Highway 2000 off ramp at Marcus Garvey Drive.- Gleaner photo

This article was first published on Aug 20, 2021 by Interpress Service
Even as COVID-19 walloped Jamaica’s economy last year, the government overhauled its energy emissions milestones to create what many described as a post-pandemic recovery package, based on stronger carbon targets for the farming and forestry sectors.

According to the plan, the country would reduce emissions from both sectors by almost a third over the next decade, by optimising water and energy use and diversifying food production.

Released at a time when most countries around the globe struggled to manage their economies during the pandemic using measures that were expected to set back their sustainability goals, experts hailed the plan as a game changer for a country in a steep economic decline resulting from COVID-19. With tens of thousands of jobs lost, the government turned to the island’s fast-expanding business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as a much-needed source of jobs, providing a level of diversification from the agrarian society of old. Initially focused on call centres, the sector has expanded to include to more specialised areas including accounting, human resources management, digital marketing, animation and software development.

Climate change expert Carlos Fuller said the new measures “will create new economic opportunities and generate employment for Jamaicans.”

Changes in land use, for development and increased agricultural activities, and reducing deforestation will cut emissions up to 28.5 per cent by 2030, according to the plan, which satisfies both local and international targets. Agriculture currently contributes about six per cent to Jamaica’s total emissions, while land use change and forestry account for 7.8 per cent.

Jamaica is one of the Caribbean’s small island developing states (SIDS). On Monday and Tuesday, representatives of the 38 SIDS worldwide, UN agencies and civil society will gather in person and online to discuss how they can kickstart their economies post-COVID-19 in order to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The SIDS Solution Forum is organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in partnership with the UN International Telecommunications Union and co-hosted by the Government of Fiji.

Other current investments in Jamaica have made climate data collection, modelling and analysis priorities. Projects like the Climate Data and Information Management Project should help to improve the collection and analysis of climate data while strengthening early warning systems. The Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project is expected to enhance physical resilience to disasters.

Co-heads of the Climate Studies Group at the University of the West Indies, Dr Michael Taylor and Dr Tannecia Stephenson, recently deciphered the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in terms of what it could mean for the region.

“The intensity and frequency of heat extremes in the Caribbean are increasing and will continue to do so. It will impact energy use, demands for water, agricultural production among other things,” Dr Taylor said.

Jamaica’s emissions and development goals are tied together in the country’s Vision 2030 Development plan, an ambitious guide for this highly indebted nation’s development. Launched in 2014, the document aims to make “Jamaica the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.”

There have been tweaks, updates and a Road Map, but Vision 2030 remains grounded in four interrelated national goals: Jamaicans are empowered to achieve their fullest potential, society is secure, cohesive and just, the economy is prosperous, and the country has a healthy, natural environment.

In pursuit of the Vision 2030 aims the results have been mixed, said Wayne Henry, Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the agency tasked with tracking the implementation of the SDGs.

In his September 2020 overview of SDG implementation, Henry noted that Jamaica has recorded positives in the social sector, accountability and governance. For example, there is continued focus on gender equality and the empowerment of women. According to the International Labour Organization, 59.3 percent of managers in the country are women.

But Jamaica has struggled, Henry said, in the areas of security and safety, environmental sustainability and the rate of non-communicable diseases. The murder rate has hovered between 47 and 47.7 per 100,000 in recent years, diabetes and hypertension rates have climbed alarmingly in the 15-and-over age-group, and overall environmental performance has fallen.

Even as the systems for SDG implementation are woven into the national development strategies, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of economies like Jamaica’s. According to Henry, the pandemic shows “how quickly a development path can be challenged.”

COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill and in its wake upended the lives and livelihoods of thousands in the Caribbean, shuttering entire sectors that depend on tourism and according to the PIOJ, contracting the Jamaican economy by 10 percent.

With tens of thousands of jobs lost, the government turned to the island’s fast-expanding business process outsourcing (BPO) sector as a much-needed source of jobs, providing a level of diversification from the agrarian society of old. Initially focused on call centres, the sector has expanded to include to more specialised areas including accounting, human resources management, digital marketing, animation and software development.

But the sector’s are prone to COVID-19 outbreaks, and its dependence on the existing fossil fuel-based energy sector is a negative factor for a country keen on cutting emissions.

Still, Jamaica may well have captured the essence of the SDGs by balancing the temporary growth from the BPO sector with its commitment to reduce energy costs and diversify the fuel mix. It plans, for example, to increase the share of electricity generation from renewables from 9 percent in 2016 to 30 percent by 2030. And in 2019, the government commissioned a 36-megawatt wind farm, which is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 66,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, equal to taking roughly 13,000 cars off the road

The COVID19 Epidemic has resulted in increased agricultural production, PIOJ reported at the end of May 2020.

Jamaica increases emissions targets for green COVID-19 recovery

By Zadie Neufville

This article was originally published in Spanish on SciDev.Net. Read the Engish version  

[KINGSTON] Jamaica has overhauled its emissions milestones to create a post-pandemic recovery package anchored in stronger carbon emissions targets for farms and forestry — raising hopes other countries in the region will follow suit.

Jamaica hopes to cut emissions from the forestry and farming sectors by almost one third over the next decade, by optimising water and energy use and diversifying food production.

The announcement comes as countries worldwide struggle to manage their economies during the COVID-19 outbreak, often using measures many fear will set back sustainability goals.

“There will be a significant decline in regional emissions if countries with high emissions like Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic … take Jamaica as a precedent.”

Ulric Trotz, deputy director, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

Jamaica has more than a million motor vehicles contributing to increased emissions.- Gleaner photo

This year, governments were expected to present ambitious climate plans to meet obligations under the Paris Agreement. Low- and middle-income countries have been leading the way, with Rwanda and Suriname among the first ten countries to submit or update their nationally determined contributions (NDC).

Una May Gordon, climate change division director at Jamaica’s Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, says the new policy — a revision of the country’s 2030 energy policy — includes assessments and modelling to take into account the importance of agriculture and forestry to the economy.

The previous policy reduced the island’s dependency on oil in its energy supply mix, from 95 per cent in 2010 to about 50 per cent at the end of 2019.

Farmers in the Blue Mountains. Bush fires have contributed to forest loss and land-use changes.

Under the new targets, Jamaica hopes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from changes in land use, for development and increased agricultural activities, and deforestation by up to 28.5 per cent by 2030. Agriculture contributes about six per cent to Jamaica’s total emissions, while land-use change and forestry account for 7.8 per cent of emissions.

Carlos Fuller, a climate negotiator attached to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), says Jamaica’s new measures “will create new economic opportunities and generate employment for Jamaicans”.

“The COVID-19 recovery must include a shift to a less carbon-intensive economy under the Paris Agreement and [this is something] which Jamaica has pledged to do through these new, enhanced and more ambitious nationally determined contributions,” Fuller tells SciDev.Net.

“The activities required to achieve the more ambitious NDC provides Jamaicans with the opportunity to create new economic prospects, which will generate more employment, capacity building initiatives, development and deployment of new technologies, stimulate foreign direct investment and lead to a healthier and enhanced quality of life.”

There is hope the country will pave the way for a regional trend towards improved emissions policies.

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CCCCC deputy director and science advisor, Ulric Trotz, says: “There will be a significant decline in regional emissions if countries with high emissions like Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic … take Jamaica as a precedent.”

Predictions for the island’s economy are bleak. The new energy policy could prove crucial to Jamaica’s economic recovery, says Helen Mountford, vice president for climate and economics at the World Resources Institute.

“Jamaica is taking the kind of action needed both to tackle climate change and rebound from the COVID-19 crisis in a way that will strengthen its resilience to future shocks,” she says.

The COVID19 Epidemic has resulted in increased agricultural production, PIOJ reported at the end of May 2020.

Jamaica’s government is projecting a 5.1 per cent economic contraction as critical sectors like tourism, mining and transport are hit by the pandemic, while the Planning Institute of Jamaica has forecast the lowest economic growth for the country in 40 years.

“Despite the serious economic pressure that Jamaica is facing from the COVID-19 crisis, this small island developing nation is demonstrating leadership on climate change that the world needs right now,” Mountford says.

 

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FactChecking, Lunacy and the White House: Am I Dreaming?

January 28, 2017
You know, these days I fact check anything that comes from the White House- even a photo. Before this past January 20, 2017, I just accepted that information from the Office of POTUS, was by and large the truth- expected that, actually. I’m one of those who believe that any information that is released- more so from the leader of the ‘Free World –  should be accurate, factual and above the fray (of course I expect omissions and spins- I’m a journalist afterall).

But it seems I’ve been trapped in a nightmare and its only been a week- maybe two. Now I have to check the foreign news and several local US news sources to verify that the White House information is correct, and that my friends is a sad state of affairs. No matter how much of a supporter you are, you’d be lying if you said you’re not concerned- unless you don’t care, or you don’t mind being lied to.

These days I expect the POTUS (not Russia, not Erdoğan or even Duturte) to do and say the most outrageous, shocking, awful (not to mention ignorant) things. Frankly, I believe that pretty soon, a Tweet from the Tweeter-In-Chief will start a war, or at least get somebody killed.

Lesson From China’s Sparrow Eradication Experiment
I am convinced there is a deranged man on the loose in the White House, so with the expected changes to the EPA, an article I recently read about Chairman Mao’s decree in 1958 (which called for the death of all sparrows) came to mind The story resonates, because it illustrates how destructive a leader that creates his own facts can be (and I think seven (7) bankruptcies  is an indicator).

Mao thought sparrows ate too much grain, and was therefore hampering China’s development, so he ordered them killed. The sparrow eradication programme caused an environmental catastrophe, because (and as we all now know) every living thing as a role in this circle of life. In the three years following the decree, 45 million people died in a famine caused by out-of-control pests. You see, sparrows feed on insect pests and were critical to their control.  Read the story here

Catastrophes happen when ‘ignorant’ leaders plough ahead with their plans above all else, and history is ‘paved’ with ‘gems’ like these, -teaching moments. In fact, several unique and vulnerable species are about to meet their demise with this border wall obsession and actions POTUS promised to take so that farmers can get the water they need, and in the process destroy California’s aquifers and surface water systems. However, it is the price one pays when an illiterate (his reading and speech say so much), insufferable gas bag with a ‘god’ complex is given too much power.

Beware, The Bully Re-Awakens
Far worse, I see that old bully  re-emerging in the Americas, as an antagonist, lyingTrump and the GOP try to “Make America Great Again”. What’s even more scary? Small, Latin and South American countries acquiescing before the fight has even begun- my utmost respect to Mexico and its president Enrique Peña Nieto who had signalled their intention to back out of the January 31 meeting a day prior to the dim-wit’s tweet.  The liar implied, via Twitter ( the new bully pulpit) that he initiated the cancellation, now he says it is mutual (ofcourse I digress).

Threats are already in the air: “Mexico is going to pay for the wall”; If you build abroad and sell in the US we will impose tariffs; “we’re taking names”, said Nikki Haley a few days ago. For small nations, targeting niche markets where people don’t mind the higher prices; selling directly to the small man and looking to nations where there is likely to be a fair price could be the advantages to break the bully.

So folks, it’s time for southern lands to look South! Looking north is no longer an option- do anything, so something, just down roll over.The boats that take food from Haiti and the Dominican Republic to their Caribbean neighbours seem to be doing well, in other words  tighten your belts and fight the bully. I remain steadfast in my belief, that anti-China sentiments in the Bush years led to the crash of the US economy and the mortgage melt-down- looking inward won’t stop it happening again. This time, be prepared.

Impose your own tariffs and rebuild your industries, form your own trading groups; stand up and fight back. Immediately after Trump announces tariffs, impose your own. Have you forgotten that it was the US who came to you with a plan, because they needed to grow their economy? Your replacement for NAFTA should already be in place. Do you know how many cars are imported to the Caribbean, Central and South America from the European Union, Japan, India and China each year? Have you seen the potential for the supply of food, other goods to go East?

Seek Alternative Markets, Trading Partners
People, there are 196 countries in the world (depending on who you ask), areas that are and continue to grow; areas that lack investments but which are brimming to overflowing with human resources and potential. Africans are leaving their countries in droves due a lack of investment, yet the educated populations on the content are growing super fast. It is time to strike while the iron is hot, as the saying goes.

China’s Freight Train leaves for London

Lets face it, at this juncture, the US needs Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America perhaps more than they need the United States. As the world grows smaller, it becomes easier for small producers to find markets elsewhere and perhaps better prices too. Did you see that freight train from China arriving in London last week? Large, medium and small companies can make more by investing in Central and South America, China or India that they can in the US where production prices are higher and sales volume risk stagnation. Imagine the potential for growth in populations of 1.4 billion people that is China, 1.2 billion in India, compared to 318 million in the US.

US Remains The Biggest Beneficiary of Free Trade Agreements
Mexico and other trading partners have been made the scapegoat by a blowhard who has no understanding of the manufacturing trade, he is after all a vendor and one that at best, cheats his suppliers.

After all that is being said, everybody (besides POTUS that is) knows that the North American Free Trade  Agreement’s (NAFTA) biggest beneficiary is the US, where authorities continue to impose rules that prevent smaller nations from entering their protected markets. But suddenly, because Mexico has managed to get some benefit from which should be a reciprocal agreement, they are out of style. I’m sure many African and Caribbean nations haven’t forgotten that its was the US that used the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to destroy the commodity trades with their former colonial rulers in the EU. They destroyed livelihoods and lives and made nations poorer.

The peoples of the Caribbean, Latin and South America can and must work together to build strong relationships that will rival any region, we can feed ourselves, educate our people and be independent of the bully-ism that is once again coming from America.

When all is said and done, I am still scratching my head that this is the man that Christians in America voted into the White House. They rebuke people for judging the morally deficient serial liar, while they sit in judgement and cast to hell those who oppose their points of view.

Zadie is a journalist and Communications Specialist.

Islas del Caribe buscan nuevas reglas de financiamiento

By Zadie Neufville

The following article was published by SCiDEv.NET on August 13, 2015

[KINGTON] Los pequeños estados insulares del Caribe (PEIC) están presionando a la comunidad internacional para que se revisen y cambien los criterios de elegibilidad para conseguir financiamiento para el desarrollo en condiciones que reflejen sus realidades socioeconómicas.

Los retos particulares que confrontan los PEIC están delineados en el informe emitido durante la III Conferencia de Financiamiento para el DesarrolloDevelopment UN de la ONU celebrada en Addis Abeba (13-16 de julio), Etiopía.

“Si no se cambian pronto los criterios de elegibilidad, el acceso a la ayuda para el desarrollo se reducirá aún más y provocará recortes en la ayuda actual de algunas islas porque ya no estarán calificadas para recibirla”.

Maurice Mason, Instituto  para el Desarrollo Sostenible

“Exhortamos a mejorar la normatividad, para que se consideren los indicadores de progreso ‘multidimensional’, o de bienestar y no solo las mediciones de ingresos”, dijo Jessica Faieta, Secretaria General Adjunta de Estados Unidos en un comunicado de prensa.

El economista jamaiquino Maurice Mason, del Instituto para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Universidad de las Indias Occidentales, afirma que los cambios son “necesarios porque el Producto Interno Bruto (PIB) per cápita no refleja la distribución del ingreso en el país”.

Backyard farmers contributed to increases in vegetable production.

IonaSamuels ilustra lo que dice Mason. Laanciana notiene hogar,empleo nipensión. Noobstante, nocumple con loscriterios paravivienda yatención deindigentes,porque sealoja donde unaamiga quetiene casapropia conestufa de gas yrefrigerador.Alcanzar el nivel de ingresos medios ha significado para muchos PEIC volverse inelegibles para financiamiento en condiciones concesionarias. Algunos donantes han reducido o retirado la ayuda para el desarrollo que tanto necesitan.

Mason propone indicadores basados en la tasa de desempleo y en la relación médico-paciente como medida del acceso a atención médica. Subraya que los estados insulares de todo el mundo se evalúan utilizando los mismos criterios, y advierte que la nueva normatividad debería sumarse a las ya existentes y “garantizar que el acceso a la ayuda para el desarrollo vaya a quienes la necesitan”.

El aumento de la deuda en algunos de estos estados, añadida a la extrema vulnerabilidad de la región a los desastres, cambio climático, aumento de los índices de criminalidad y pobreza superan los logros alcanzados en educación y salud.

“Si no se cambian pronto los criterios de elegibilidad, el acceso a la ayuda para el desarrollo se reducirá aún más y, en muchos casos, provocará recortes en la ayuda actual de algunas islas porque ya no estarán calificadas para recibirla”, vaticina Mason.

La falta de financiamiento ya está afectando la capacidad de algunos pequeños estados insulares que esperan que la ONU y otros socios financien sus adaptaciones al cambio climático y a otros objetivos de desarrollo.

Mientras que los países de la región han hecho algunos avances, ellos continúan combatiendo la creciente delincuencia, el desempleo crónico y el aumento de las tasas de pobreza. La mayoría todavía no han cumplido con los ODM 2015.

 

Este artículo fue publicado originalmente en SciDev.Net. Lea la versión original aquí.

 

Jamaican Gov’t Sees IMF Successes but No Benefits for the Poor

The article deliberately excludes interpretations from the economomists, the analyists and civil servants providing instead the interpretations of the man in the street.

by Zadie Neufville
This article was first published by the InterPess Service (IPS) on Jun 2, 2015 (IPS)
For Jamaicans like Roxan Brown, the Caribbean nation’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) successes don’t mean a thing. Seven consecutive tests have been passed but still, the mother of two can’t find work and relies instead on the kindness of friends and family.

The 32-year-old has been in several government-sponsored training programmes and has even filed for help under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), a safety net set up to assist the poor. But she fails to qualify and can’t understand why.

The single mother spends each day making phone calls, sending messages and making as many trips as she can afford, hopeful that one will result in a job. Roxan is desperate to help her son who graduated high school last year and has qualified for college. Her daughter is in secondary school and is preparing to sit exams.

The small box of goods

Several miles away in the south coast village of Denbigh, the two elderly women also share their stories of hardship. Five days a week, they scratch out a meagre living selling a few sweets, biscuits, some bottled water, drinks and fruits to make ends meet. Neither have pensions and none qualify for even the basic of government assistance under PATH.

Seventy year old Elise Young’s small box of mixed sweets and biscuits and the plastic bucket containing some ice and a handful of drinks is hardy enough to pay the 18-dollar electricity bill each month and buy food.

“It’s very rough but I still have to live,” she said, noting that her daughter, who generally helps out with a few dollars a week, is now unemployed.  Next to her sits Iona Samuels, an on-again off-again vendor who sells a few dozen oranges and bananas to make ends meet. Iona is lucky: she lives rent free, housesitting for a friend who lives in Canada. Her onagain offagain business is due to the many times she is unable to restock the plastic crates that serve as her stall because she uses all the cash to buy food and pay water and light bills.

“Sometime I buy two dozen oranges and two dozen bananas and I only sell half. Sometimes I don’t make a profit because I have to sell them for what I pay for them and I have to eat and pay the bills,” she explains. Iona admits that advancing age has slowed her ability to do more strenuous work. She is concerned that government has no programmes for “the poor and vulnerable” people like her.

The good fortune that allows Iona to live rent-free also goes against her in her quest for government assistance with her daily expenses.

“I live in a house that is fully furnished, so I am unable to qualify for anything. There is no consideration that the house is not mine. It is my friend’s house. There is a gas stove, and a television so I don’t qualify for help,” Iona complains.

International Monetary Fund headquarters’ complex in Washington

 In the long history of Jamaica’s on-again off-again relationship with the IMF, it is the poorest of this nation’s 2.8 million people who suffer the heaviest burden. With most earnings going to pay loans, there is nothing left for government assistance.

Media reports cite information from the U.S.based Centre for Economic Policy and Research, which states that three years into its latest IMF programming, Jamaica’s economy is suffocating, struggling to reach its current quarterly growth rate of between 0.1 and 0.5 percent.

After 20 years of improvement to the country’s poverty rate, the number of Jamaicans living below the poverty line has ballooned in recent years from 9.9 percent in 2007, to 12.3 in 2008, 16.5 percent in 2009 and 19.9 percent in 2012. And if the 2014 research by the local Adventist Church is correct, today there are 1.1 million Jamaicans living in poverty.

The most pressing problem is the country’s debt, which the government readily admits has severely hampered its economic growth. According to the World Bank website, Jamaica’s debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio, estimated at 140 percent at the end of March 2015, is among the highest in the developing world.

For the Portia Simpson Miller-led administration that won the 2011 general elections on a ticket of being a friend of the poor, there is not much caring left, at least not under the IMF. The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) reports that while the IMF programme is necessary, it is still not sufficient to unlock the kind of growth necessary to boost the economy and grow jobs.

According to the PIOJ, “Economic recovery remains fragile” even as the country successfully completed the IMF assessments with improvements in most macroeconomic indicators and outlook for growth.

The World Bank states on its website that, “For decades, Jamaica has struggled with low growth, high public debt and many external shocks that further weakened the economy. Over the last 30 years real per capita GDP increased at an average of just one percent per year, making Jamaica one of the slowest growing developing countries in the world.”

Simply put, Jamaica continues to spend far more than it earns. But while individual sectors continue to show improvements, manufacturers and the international community blame the cost of fuel, high energy costs and crime as impediments to growth.

Tourist at one of many streetside stalls on the island

Last year, Jamaica paid the IMF over 136 million dollars more than it received, and the country still owes the World Bank and InterAmerican Development Bank over 650 million dollars through 2018. Even so, government continues to struggle to maintain social gains such as free healthcare and free primary and secondary education.

There are those who believe government is not doing enough to create jobs and that the available jobs are going to government supporters. There are those who blame the private sector, and they in turn point to a depreciating dollar, high cost of fuel and high energy costs. And of course there is crime.

With unemployment rate at an alarming 14.2 percent and youth unemployment estimated at twice the national rate, things are not looking good for Roxan, who falls into that category.

The original story is here