Sandra Pearson outside her failed business in Bartons, St Catherine. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

While most Jamaicans have accepted that the global economic recession has hit the country hard, the scale of the devastation is yet to be appreciated by many.

However, in rural Jamaica the impact of the recession is clearly visible on the streets, where once-thriving small businesses are being closed almost daily.

In Bartons, southwest St Catherine, residents are living the worst aspects of the recession and could give university-trained economists a lesson on the impact of the world's greatest economic crisis since the 1930s.

The ugly sight of closed businesses line the streets of Bartons, which is less than 15 minutes drive from the nearest major town, Old Harbour.

Painful time

It has been a painful time for small-business operators who have been forced to close the doors of their shops, bars and other enterprises.

Two months ago, Sandra Pearson joined the list of people forced to make the painful decision to close their businesses.

"Me did have to close down because nutten nah gwan. Sometimes you open for the whole day and you sell a one $500 and light bill come and me no have it fi pay. The business just couldn't keep up itself," Pearson told The Gleaner while standing in front of the closed Sandra's Grocery and Bar.

"A year ago things were better because it used to pay the bills and me could eat and drink and send the children 'round me to school and give them any little thing. But now everything just tough," Pearson added.

She argued that her neighbours just don't have the money to buy from her and the other businesses which have closed.

"It is just one and two shops that stand up and most people just live by a little cultivation for themselves. A man will come out and buy a two pound of flour and buy a one drink but that is it," Pearson said.

Now, after almost six years as an independent businesswoman, Pearson survives on the money that family members send her "every now and then from foreign and any little juggling that me can do".

School principal Gloria Fisher has lived in Bartons all her life and she has seen the changes and the business closures up close.

Residents struggling

She noted that Bartons is a small farming community which was vibrant when a coffee factory operated there. However, since its closure and the tightening of the job market, many residents have been struggling.

"The young people leaving schools are not getting any jobs. We have a number of university graduates and college-trained teachers who are not getting the jobs," Fisher told The Gleaner.

"So everybody try to have a little cookshop or some other business but, because we are so near to Old Harbour and we have an excellent taxi service and our roads are so good, people just go down to Old Harbour to do their purchases so the local small businesses not as vibrant," added Fisher.

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com