Panacea to Arrest Urban Drift is to Empower Rural and Maritime Communities With Sustainable Projects
If our success is measured on our financial achievement by how much income we make, we can achieve it from anywhere we live.
One of the challenges that this Government and its predecessors have faced is how to arrest the urban drift.
There is a simple solution – create an environment that makes life in the rural and maritime areas more interesting and meaningful.
If we empower them through assistance that will help them become self-reliant, they will find fewer reasons to venture into urban areas. Our rural and maritime people move to towns and cities to look for jobs, higher education and opportunities to be successful in life in terms of careers and economic status. They are also drawn by the bright lights and entertainment. If our success is measured on our financial achievement by how much income we make, we can achieve it from anywhere we live.
Unlocking opportunities
That’s the key that the Ministry of Commerce, Trade, Tourism and Transport has found to unlock the door to opportunities for the villagers of Narikoso, Ono in Kadavu. The ministry has not only helped in the relocation of the village through the Matanaruarua Co-operative because of climate change, it has provided assistance for self-help projects.
It has done this through the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Fiji. One of the programmes is the Integrated Human Resources Development Programme (IHRDP) which facilitates the giving of grants for communal income generating projects.
Among the projects benefitting from this scheme include poultry farming, co-operative store development, fishing and bee-keeping. The ministry provides financial literacy training, poultry feeders, hatchlings, poultry feed, generator, cooler, outboard engine, freezer and technical training for beekeeping and provision of hives.
Two positive features of this programme are that they use available local resources and lifestyle.
In the maritime areas, it goes without saying that the sea is their biggest source of livelihood and food.
Fishing, therefore, as a business is a no brainer if internationally accepted standard commercial practises are followed. For example, the provision of freezers and coolers will preserve fish for longer periods before they are sold. They cut wastage and improve efficiency, marketability and revenue.
Many of these communities live on a communal basis so there should be no problem implementing projects that are community-based.
The projects, if run professionally, will provide jobs and income for people instead of them drifting in towns and cities.
Agriculture importance
COVID-19 has lifted the importance of agriculture in our lives and our rural people who produce most if not all of our food needs are playing an increasingly bigger role.
At a time when imported processed food costs more and harder to get because of the economic crisis, locally produced food has been sustaining us. While there is more focus on local consumption, we should also be seriously looking at increasing our efforts to aggressively search for overseas markets for our agricultural products. Increasing our exports will create jobs for a significant number of people in the rural areas. Why can’t we revive our banana export trade to our development partners New Zealand and Australia? In its heyday, before independence, we were exporting bananas and they came mainly from the river plains of Wainibuka, Naitasiri and Namosi.
Drift problem
The population in some of our villages and settlements has dropped because of the urban drift. It’s a worldwide phenomenon and many countries are grappling with this challenge. We cannot stop the young people, who have education ambition, move to urban areas to seek high learning and qualification. That should be encouraged because they could return to their communities if opportunities are available to use their new-found knowledge, skills and experience. It’s not uncommon these days to find some of those who come from rural and farming backgrounds to go for white-collar jobs after they graduate from tertiary institutions.
And there are those with trade skills needed for urban development who find themselves reasonably paying jobs, whether it’s in engineering, manufacturing and construction. These are part of the modern-day realities.
The ones we are worried about are the school dropouts and unemployed who drift into the urban areas looking for something to do. They add to the number of people in the same group who were born, bred and live in the urban centres. Only a small number of those who live in urban centres return to their parents’ villages or settlement because of the different lifestyles and the fear of the unknown.
We can reverse the trend by being innovative to make our rural and maritime zones more attractive. The ministry’s initiative in Narikoso is a great start that can be replicated in other areas.