Francine Black, Staff Reporter

It is five months into the new year, and yet it seems it will be one of the most financially difficult year for everyone.

A shortage of many critical food items has driven up food costs. Add to this the rising fuel prices, which not only mean higher costs for motor vehicle owners but also higher utility bills.

In addition, a number of investment schemes have suddenly ceased operation, leaving a significant number of people in a financial mess.

To make matters worse, the housing crisis in the United States has triggered a recession, which is bound to affect us even further. And we cannot leave out the job shortage now affecting our economy. Many companies are laying off people as a strategy to deal with the difficult economic times. This is in addition to the many people without jobs.

It is clear that Jamaica has several more external shocks to face and it is critical that we bond together and cut back where we can to make it easier on ourselves.

Another thing we should learn from this experience is the greater need for us to be self-sufficient. Clearly, our agricultural sector needs some serious attention. Even if rice is going to be short on the world market, we have sufficient land space to grow other foods that are equally nutritious.

Not only would we cut our export bill by becoming more self-sufficient, but we would definitely provide much-needed jobs.

The fact is it that we are facing some serious times and the only way we can get ourselves out is to help ourselves.

Another area we need to tackle is our dependency on fuel. Often we talk about it, yet nothing is ever done to relieve the shortage. We need to find and implement alternative energy sources quickly.

We are a small country and we cannot handle too many external shocks, so the best way for us to deal with these issues is to curb our dependence on these things.

In the meantime, people need to become more creative. So you don't have a lot of land space at home for a backyard garden, but buying a flower pot and growing some vegetables and seasonings, like thyme, will help to cut your food bill.

I am sure that if we walk to some of the places nearby, rather than driving, we can conserve on fuel consumption. These things may seem small, but if everyone does a little, it will all amount to something big.

I hope, though, that with all the stress ahead, we will get creative in the short term to make things easier while we develop and implement a long-term plan to be more self-sufficient.