Jamaica Forest And Land Use

Only 31% of the land surface of Jamaica is used for agriculture 18% for the major crops and 13 % for pasture. This, together with a small proportion of the forest land, is all that can be considered productive. This is important as well as Jamaica forest trees research to preserve the terrain and maintain an eco-balance.

One reason why no more land is productive is that half of it lies above 1,000 feet, and a third of it has slops of more than one in five. Another is that there are large tracts of poor thin soil. This is particularly true of limestone areas where, in addition, water is difficult to obtain. But besides these handicaps much harm has been done by man. Over large areas forests have been cut for lumber, burned for charcoal and cleared for cultivation, thus exposing the land to rapid tropical weathering.

Plantations established in unsuitable areas in the prosperous days of slavery now lie ‘in ruin’, or provide a few tenants and squatters with a meager subsistence. In some of these areas soil erosion has become so serious that land is now very difficult to reclaim. Nevertheless attempts are being made to do so. Two areas to which particular attention has been given are the Yallahs Valley leading southwards from the Blue Mountains to the coast and a somewhat larger area around Christiana in the centre of Jamaica. More recently, attention has been directed to the protection of badly eroded watersheds all over the island especially to the reforestation of sharp-crested ridges separating deep valleys.

Land holdings
In the slave days the Jamaican lowlands were occupied by large sugar and cattle estates while the hills were mostly left in forest and bush. After emancipation the majority of the freed slaves left the estates and cleared small subsistence holdings for themselves in the hills. These two contrasting types of land tenure estates and peasant holdings still exist. Indeed, with the bauxite companies owning large properties and with smallholders subdividing their land to provide their families with a living, the distinction between very small and very large land holdings is growing.

Thus in 1970, 45 % of the land was taken up by 300 properties of 500 acres and over. At the other end of the scale, 78 % of the farms are under 5 acres in size; an area which is generally agreed to be much too small to support a family. These tiny farms take up 15 % of the area. The rest was a combination of limestone forests in Jamaica.