History Of Farming In Jamaica

Throughout the period of slavery Jamaican slaves were granted a certain amount of time to grow food crops on their own small plots of land. Thus many of them gained enough experience to be able to set up on their own after emancipation. They acquired small holdings, especially in the hills, which they used primarily for subsistence crops, though they also earned small sums from the sale of such things as bananas, cocoa, coffee, ginger and pimento. The rise of a stable, fairly prosperous peasantry was one of the most notable features of nineteenth-century Jamaica.

There have been further changes since then. For one thing, export estate-grown crops have again become prominent. For another, the increased demands of hotels and towns, especially Kingston, the construction of good roads, and the improvement of marketing and cold storage facilities have encouraged small farmers throughout the island to earn a regular income from the sale of fruit, vegetables, and animal products and has been the base of farming history in Jamaica.

Together with an increasing number of people with larger properties and improved farming methods used in Jamaica they are thinking more in terms of the local market than of exports. These products are of considerably more value than all the export crops combined. They include yams, sweet and Irish potatoes, rice, several varieties of beans, plantains, mangoes, avocado pears, breadfruit, cassava, maize, ackees and many other tropical and temperate products. The result of agriculture becoming the main source of export eventually led to improved farming techniques or systems used in Jamaica.

Livestock
Pastures take up a greater area than arable land in Jamaica. Many properties, including some very large ones in the central parishes, specialize in cattle rearing. Altogether there are about 300,000 cattle that are nearly three times as many as there are in all the other Commonwealth Caribbean islands combined. In addition there are about 2 million chickens, 200,000 goats, 150,000 pigs and 10,000 sheep. The cattle rearing took center stage with different types of mating of livestock animals in Jamaica.

Dairying
Since the erection in 1940 of a condensed Jamaican milk factory at Bog Walk, milk production in the island has more than doubled. The regular demands of the factory have encouraged small farmers to take up dairying. In addition many cane farmers make a supplementary income from milk, which is of special value to them in the out-of-crop season from July to January. Even so, the supply of dairy products is not enough to meet local requirements, and there are large imports of powdered milk, butter and cheese, mainly from New Zealand. Food imports as a whole cost as much, or more, than the value of agricultural exports.

Meat
Although about half of the 300,000 cattle in Jamaica are reared for beef, the supply does not equal the demand. In an attempt to increase the present low output per acre efforts are being made to improve the quality of the pastures. Taking part in this development are the bauxite companies, which have enlarged and improved their cattle herds. For instance, one of them has 16,000 cattle; a livestock feed mill and a cold-storage plant. Typical breeds include the Jamaica black cattle. The bauxite companies have also extended their forest land, their citrus and other orchards, and have set aside some land for tenant farms. You can also find pictures of Jamaica hope cattle as well.

Agriculture and employment
One indication of the stage of development of a country is the proportion of the labor force employed in the agriculture industry in Jamaica. By mechanizing their farming, highly developed countries have released many workers for other jobs, such as manufacturing and commerce.
Throughout the West Indies, though the proportion of agricultural workers is falling, it is still high. In the case of Jamaica 44 °/ of the labor force was engaged in agriculture in 1943; 38 % in 1960. Those in manufacturing rose in this period from 12 % to 15%, and those in commerce from 8% to 10%. Mining, in spite of the size of the bauxite industry, employed less than 1 % of the labor force in 1960. This shows how highly mechanized the bauxite operations are.

A serious problem in rural areas is the lack of Jamaica employment opportunities. With the rise of population many people can find no work to do. Many others are uninterested in the jobs that do exist because they are poorly paid and offer little scope for advancement. As a result, people have been flocking into the towns. Conditions there are often worse than those they have left, but opportunities of returning to their old homes seldom arise.

Jamaica Forests
The forests that once covered Jamaica now exist only in mountainous areas where they are difficult to reach. Though they supply only 10% of the island’s timber requirements, they nevertheless serve a useful purpose in preventing soil erosion. For this reason most of the remaining forest is protected from further exploitation by the government. Other more accessible mountain areas are being reforested, mainly with pines, mahoe, and mahogany. In some of the most beautiful places attractive picnic sites have been established for campers and other holidaymakers.

Jamaican Fisheries
Several thousand fishermen make a living from beaches all round the island. Most of them operate canoes powered by outboard motors which enable them to go many miles out to sea and typically the crave Jamaica bay fish. The shallow waters and cays off the south coast are richer than the northern waters, where, outside the reef, the sea-floor shelves steeply to great depths. Other fishermen live on the Pedro Cays, 80 miles or so to the south of Jamaica. Their catch is loaded on to large boats which visit the Cays frequently from Kingston. Some fish are also obtained from inland ponds specially stocked for the purpose. Jamaica supplies about half of its fish requirements, with salt cod forming the bulk of the imports. You can keep the fish in Jamaica bay as it is not a catch and release area. Under certain circumstances there might be difficulty in identifying fish Jamaica as the scientific name is normally not the same as the common name given by the fishermen.