Women Who Fork
The project came about following the decline of the local banana industry, from which many women earned their living. Instead of sitting in the unemployment line, some 135 of these women are now actively engaged in the field. Still, this is hard work with many challenges, particularly for women.
At a recent workshop held in Morant Bay, St. Thomas approximately 50 women gathered to discuss some of their toughest challenges. At the top of the list is “preparing the land… I alone cannot do it, cause I am a women, we need a little help,” lamented one female farmer. “I can use cutlass, but the forking me can’t manage so well,” she explained. This means that female farmers generally must hire male labourers to assist with forking the land in preparation for planting.
Another farmer noted that in a day-for-day group solution, she worked in groups with other male farmers to lighten the load; they (male farmers) would help to fork her land and she would in turn provide lunch; a sort of barter system. Still for most women, there is no getting away from hiring male labourers or doing it themselves. In this regard, 65 year-old Luaska Lawson from Trinityville is an inspiration. She complained that “the men dem of today…are sucking the ladies’ blood, they cannot work for a thousand dollars but they want twelve hundred dollars for the day and then you hear that you are to prepare lunch for them. But as for me and my crew, I rule!” the senior citizen championed.
She added that “If I am giving them $1000 much more $1200, no lunch no cigarette (will be provided). And if they don’t work to suit me I don’t pay. So when men come at my farm and see what I did, I say if you are not working like this don’t begin, go home back because I cant feed hungry people like that,” she reasoned to the applause of her female farming companions.
To address this issue of forking or preparing their land, the Creating Sustainable Livelihoods project recently provided labour assistance cheques to female farmers in Mount Vernon, Somerset, Trinity Ville, Spring Bank and Johnson Mountain in St. Thomas. Even though forking is a relatively low level technology that these women must grapple with, the labour support funding is expected to help them to continue to carry out this activity until more advanced methodologies can be afforded. Furthermore providing labour support is a gender specific response to the problem. In this regard, some 80 cash crop female farmers will receive financial support for labour.
In December 2008, the livelihoods project first engaged community members in committees to identify areas of concern and then later provided tangible benefits such as providing cash crops, chickens and other livestock for farming. In a bid to stem the continued soil erosion resulting from the impact of previous hurricanes, the project has also provided dams “and we have completed one check dam across the Fitzgerald gully,” explained Dorothy Whyte, Executive Director of the implementing agency WROC. “In addition we established nurseries so that they can plant seedlings and have them available for sale to the community and others. We have also helped them to build slaughterhouses so that the chicken they get can be slaughtered and sold,” she added. Indeed through the project, rural people are taking the matter of food security into their own hands, which can only help to empower families and support the national goal of helping Jamaica to feed herself.
In response to the opportunity to replace and perhaps increase their income from the banana industry, most female farmers are thankful. “I was an ex-banana worker and I wasn’t working for a long time and I am an achiever in cash crop, it help me a lot to feed my family to turn my life around,” one female farmer shared. Another boasted that “last year I sow only 2lbs of carrot…and through this project, I am now sowing 4lbs and by the help of God I am going to be a stalwart in this community.”
Quite a few of them were also thankful for the opportunity to be independent. “I use to be a domestic helper…I join back the Jamaica Agricultural Society …and this cash crop…this project help me to be self employed and to be independent, not to depend on anyone.” A poultry farmer also noted that “this project has helped me a lot, twice I get help from this type of project, I have a daughter in college and is mostly chicken that help me to send her,” she stated beaming with pride.
For his part, Pierre Dawson, Monitoring Officer with EU Local office is pleased with the outcome of the project so far. He has seen the “project blossom, they have been doing some wonderful work and the impact has been seen when I go into the five communities.” He believes the project is helping to level the playing field for women in agriculture. This point was endorsed by Sheila McDonald Miller, Programme Officer from Christian Aid who also pointed to the importance of paying attention to the issue of climate change and its impact on the agriculture sector. She urged farmers to consider the problem of climate change when carrying out their farming practices.
Mayor of Morant Bay, Councillor Hanif Brown who has lent much support to the project is also quite pleased with the successes so far, noting that “the time has come when women farmers must find their rightful place in the farming sector, for too long we have had many organizations representing farmers: JAS, Rural Lands, RADA, and despite their efforts, the women farming groups and individuals have never had the opportunity to be fully organized,” he asserted.
This success notwithstanding, many challenges remain for female farmers. However the women farmers and the livelihoods project team are determined to surmount the odds and keep women positively engaged in the field.