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09th
January 2010
Halting
rural migration in Saint Lucia
 Rural
migration has been impacting urban communities
in Saint Lucia for several decades. Rural Saint
Lucian folks have been migrating from their
rural communities in search of employment and
educational opportunities; and most importantly,
a decent standard of living. But rural migration
has also brought an eye sore better known as
“ghetto communities” as rural folks
continue to struggle for a “daily bread”
in the urban areas. Can our development experts
HALT rural migration? Your guess is as good
as mine.
Political pundits repeatedly advance cogent
arguments about curing the social and economic
ills in the rural and urban communities. They
appeal to the gullible in our midst with their
general discourse of some panacea. The effects
of rural migration can only be halted by economic
progress and national development of the sort
that took place in the banana industry in Saint
Lucia during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and which
started to decline in the 1990s with the withdrawal
of preferential treatment of our banana exports
to the European market. But national sustainable
development involves people and investments
in both rural and urban sectors and communities.
Thereby creating employment and the generation
of revenue on the basis of a model of “Balanced
Development.”
Essentially, the 2009 edition of Rural America
At A Glance deals with effects of the major
recession on rural America. Initially, effects
of the recession were reportedly mitigated in
nonmetro areas by high commodity prices throughout
much of 2008, but as the recession deepened,
prices fell. Both nonmetro and metro areas experienced
rising unemployment as manufacturing and other
major employment sectors contracted, and they
were similarly affected by the mortgage foreclosure
crisis. However, even before the current recession,
nonmetro poverty rates had risen in the growth
years after the 2001 recession, against the
usual trend during a time of economic expansion;
the nonmetro poverty rate has exceeded the national
poverty rate since 2001. The nonmetro population
continued to grow in 2007 and 2008, but at less
than half the rate of the metro population.
Nonmetro growth is largely due to a rise in
births, offsetting a decline in net migration
from metro to nonmetro areas.
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In Saint Lucia,
there is an urgent need to halt rural migration
by simply providing incentives to rural folks
to remain in their native communities. The
bright urban lights which attract rural folks
must be brought to their doorsteps. Such as
the jobs, housing, primary healthcare and
other basic necessities. The idea is to encourage
rural folks to remain in their native communities
and to develop and expand those communities
over time.
It should be noted, the rural Saint Lucian
folks have made a considerable contribution
to national development. There are many talented
rural folks who migrated to urban St. Lucia
and developed sustainable professional careers.
Therefore, Saint Lucian arts and culture must
be properly nurtured and directed by intelligent
people in order to reap meaningful national
benefits. The Cultural Development Foundation
(CDF) has been mandated to play a significant
role in that process. CDF must harness and
nurture the bubbling talent of our young people
in every Saint Lucian community.
In this way, the trend of halting rural migration
would be triggered and communally set ablaze.
As a 238-square-mile sovereign nation, Saint
Lucia must continue to RISE and SHINE as a
truly independent and rapidly developing OECS
state. Saint Lucians have always been a resilient
and resourceful people. Obviously, Prime Minister,
Stephenson King is a living testimony of that
resilience and resourcefulness.
So as we make a concerted effort to halt rural
migration in Saint Lucia, we must pledge our
individual support to this herculean task.
After all, Saint Lucian belongs to all Saint
Lucians, regardless of skin colour, political
affiliation and creed. Surely, we’ve
got an impregnable Eastern Caribbean Dollar
as a strong economic pillar to assist that
economic thrust forward.
The proactive Public Sector must provide guidance
and leadership to the process of “Balanced
Development” in Saint Lucia and waving
“Good Bye” to rural migration
once and for all. We must bind together to
push our country forward in 2010 and beyond.
The onus is on every Saint Lucian to make
their individual contribution for the sake
of Lucian posterity.
Yes – as a Saint Lucian people we can!
Discuss
Story
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