Create environment of sustainability in rural areas

There is an influx of persons who are leaving the rural areas of their nation and migrating to the urban areas in search of better jobs and a better life overall for themselves and their families. However, this presents a troubling trend as it is these persons in the rural areas that provide the food for the citizens of the country to eat so that they would not have to depend on importing food.

This is the view presented by the Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), Lystra Fletcher-Paul who spoke to The Barbados Advocate prior to the start of the lecture to mark World Food Day 2017 under the theme of “Change the Future of Migration: Invest in Food Security and Rural Development,” which took place yesterday at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters, Greame Hall, Christ Church.

She said therefore, that an environment needs to be created where these persons can have sustainable jobs in the rural areas so that they would not feel the need to migrate to the urban areas.

This includes such things as providing opportunities for persons to develop their farms and this is especially important for the youth as statistics show that one in three persons who migrate from the countryside to the city are between the ages of 15 to 34.

“More importantly, if we develop the rural environment, there would not be a situation where they would want to leave. People are leaving because they don’t have jobs and so on. We are saying that by developing the food and agriculture industries in the rural environment, you create an environment where people would not want to leave, especially the young people. It is found that one in three of the migrants from rural areas to the urban areas are between the ages of 15 to 34 and they are looking for employment. So this is a way of saying that if we deal with this issue in terms of providing opportunities for rural development and upgrading the infrastructure, we can stem the flow of migrants and also, we can use the skills that migrants bring to develop food and agriculture in the region.”

This is why organizations such as the FAO is working on providing much needed assistance aimed at creating this environment.

They are also partnering with international organizations to see if immigrants have the skills to develop this vital sector.

“So FAO as an organization is providing technical assistance to the countries in terms of how you can develop your agricultural sector, what are the job opportunities in the sector and we are also working with other organizations such as the International Organization for Migration to develop for example, databases of who the migrants are, what are their skills and how can we pull everybody together to better harness the skills that migrants bring.”