Jointwood in need of development, say residents

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE JOINTWOOD community in St Elizabeth may be a mostly quiet farming district, but the testimony of residents suggests that it is a far cry from its former glory days as an agricultural hub in the traditional ‘bread-basket’ parish since the 1970s.

Several people with whom The Gleaner spoke during a recent visit to the area indicated that, contrary to past decades when farmers in the community could look forward to selling their produce in bulk, nowadays they only farm what they need for themselves, while serious employment has to be sought elsewhere.

Robert Hudson, a 57-year-old man who has lived in Jointwood all his life, acknowledged that while crime is not an issue in the area, consistent water supply has been a longtime problem which was exacerbated by recent construction work on the road leading into the community.

“Water is an issue because of the construction of the road. Water used to be at the pipe, so they fixed the pipe. But since dem a work on the road, we nuh have no water, but dem say dem a go sort it out,” Hudson outlined.

“There are three places where the wall did bruk away, so the pipeline was taken up to fix. The road supposed to done three weeks now. Nuff people have tanks, and people have dem concrete tank and dem black tank. Otherwise, the community nice.”

As a farming area, Jointwood, which is located 13 miles from parish capital Black River and a short distance from the neighbouring community of Elderslie, boasts crops such as dasheen, yam, plantain, bananas, and sugar cane. In particular, dasheen is counted as a major staple crop for both personal consumption and for sale on the market.

Hensel Morris, an 86-year-old farmer, fondly recalled how Jointwood used to truck produce out of the area, a phenomenon that has since been greatly reduced.

“People come in and buy di dasheen, and di dasheen a di ‘hot bread’. When we have breadfruit, people come in and buy it, plus banana and plantain, going up to Elderslie and to Niagara at the border of St James,” said Morris.

“In first time days, there was a truck that they used to call the MC truck, and that was in the banana days. The truck still runs, but it’s mostly to Trelawny, because di younger people dem nah work again fi cultivate things like yam again; it is the older head dem, and nuff a dem a dead out,” Morris added.

‘Not profitable’

Michael Williams, another long-time resident who has spent the majority of his 62 years residing in Jointwood, recounted how the decline of the community’s agricultural economy began in the 1980s when trucking of produce from the community got discontinued.

“You see round here so, one time when the farming used to be more encouraging, you used to have the truck that used to come in and buy products, and they cut out that completely round here. It used to happen in the early 1970s. They used to come down to a shop down there so, and everybody used to come down with their products, and that cut off in the 1980s,” said Williams.

“We do farming up here, but it is not a profitable thing because we don’t have a market up here. We just do it up here for survival. We don’t have a general market where we can go all out more in it. To get work, people have to go to Montego Bay or Kingston, and people go from here to Santa Cruz and sell and come back,” Williams added.

Despite the difficulties faced by its residents, several bright sparks have come out of Jointwood over the decades. The community is the birthplace of Reverend Stanley Redwood, founder of the New Holland Church and 10th president of the Jamaican Senate, and Sonya Moulton, founder of the Canadian-based Children of Light Outreach Ministry which was created in 2011.

As to the history of Jointwood itself, which falls under the jurisdiction of St Elizabeth North Western Member of Parliament J. C. Hutchinson, the residents could only speculate without certainty as to how the community got its odd name.

“When I tell people about the name, they laugh,” Williams admitted even while conceding that he had never heard any history behind Jointwood’s name.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com