SHYAMAPARSAD BISNAUTHSING
During the pre-independence days Mauritius was having an agri-based economy and Government was concentrating many efforts in boosting the productivity and profitability of all the players involved. Farmers who were living in large nuclear families were having sufficient to eat and also save for the future. In fact, many children emanating from those farm families joined the civil service and with their dedication escalated to decision making positions. Is this the case today? Not necessarily.
The whole of Mauritius has been witness to the above during the recent debates on the Agricultural Marketing (amendment) Bill in Parliament and read the reports of same in the papers. While the “object of the Bill is to provide that wholesale by auction of locally produced vegetables, fruits and flowers shall no longer be conducted in markets and fairs, but shall henceforth be conducted at the National Wholesale Market” (NWM), only two or three Parliamentarians talked of the plight and precarious situations of those farmers or Agricultural Producers and the sector as a whole, while some even mentioned of the progress and interests of the younger generation for agriculture as a profession. Let it be known that without those producers the NWM would cease to exist.
According to the latest figures Mauritius had produced 106,800 tons of vegetables and fruits on some 7781 hectares. A decrease in both area harvested and yield of produce is noted. Has someone sounded the alarm bell? Not to our knowledge. On the contrary, State Owned Lands are being managed by Landscope Ltd, Sugar Investment Trust. Rose Belle Sugar Estate and Agricultural Services are not being put to productive purposes. Instead those are being placed at the disposal of entrepreneurs of the building and residential properties against personal profits. Even large private owners like sugar estates are not playing the game and are more interested in IRS and Gated Infrastructures.
In past budget speeches, we see mention of creation of Agricultural Park at Côte D’Or, transformation of potatoes into chips and other value added products, various fiscal measures and schemes have also been mentioned through the Development Bank of Mauritius; nothing tangible has been observed so far. The 4 Model Farms which were put in place by AREU are everything but models. A Training Centre for the transformation of agricultural produce was also set up at Mapou Model Farm recently. A laudable initiative indeed; but how many sessions have been held over there? The above mentioned figures are rightful proof of same.
A farmer has to wake up early at dawn in order to arrange for the daily on-field activities – from land preparation and tilling of same to applications of composts and fertilisers and most importantly, ensuring good and proper planting materials from seeds to seedlings. He has to take into account labour requirements (if available) in accordance with his plan of action. He has to observe the whole field situation and also to plan remedial solutions to any indication of new pest attacks or field damage due to rodents, hares, humans (thefts) and other stray animals. To sum all the on-farm activities, one can safely say that from seeds to market, the farmer has a 24-hour job and burden.
Former US President JFK Kennedy had rightfully said in the early sixties – ‘The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.’ Yet till date no proper mechanism has been put in place for those agricultural producers to create a situation wherein everybody in society is contented and give due recognition to their efforts and contribution towards feeding the Nation with fresh vegetables and fruits irrespective of the weather conditions.
We heard recently that this Bill is about to give the rightful importance to them. Importance would be given to the auctioneers and vegetable retailers in the respective markets who have only fixed costs like transport and rentals ranging from Rs 200 to Rs 500 per week (depending of the number of days of activity) to foot while those producers are having lots of variable costs and are in turn placed at the mercy of the laws of supply and demand. No proper mechanisms are being placed in order to meet the challenges of surplus quality products.
Tomatoes, okra (lalo) and green chilies are three vivid examples of the anomalies of the market. While okra is being sold at a range of Rs.100/150 per half kilo and tomatoes are available within the range of Rs.35/50 per half kilo, Chilies are available at Rs 35 for 125 grams. The wholesale price at the NWS for those commodities range from Rs.70/85 for okra and Rs37 per half kilo for tomatoes (It might also be less). As far as chilies are concerned they are offered in the range of Rs70/80 per 500 grams. It is to be pointed out that in spite of grading the produce sent to the NWM, the auctioneer further does the grading, and not always to the satisfaction of the produce; thus resulting in a drastic diminution of proceeds. The farmer has to pay a fee of around 11% of the wholesale price as costs for auctioneers and transport. So it is clear that the winner takes all concept is also applied here. Imagine the profits of the tomato okra and chilli (which are all labour-intensive crops) producer as compared to that of the vendors. Vegetable farmers are the most vulnerable.
Vegetables are a perishable commodity, as such; retailers can’t take the risk of losses unlike the farmers. In general, vegetables are sold 50% above the price the farmer gets. Inflation has generated cost pressures and this has also impacted on profits. What is required is a proper mechanism known as Supply chain mechanism and it was largely canvassed in Forum of Le Mauricien in its issue of 23 June 2020.
Supply chain not only benefits the retailers but also creates spinoffs that stimulate social, economic and environmental sustainable developments in the region through value addition, minimization of losses and employment generation amongst others. The specific gains are –
Reduction of products losses in transportation and storage.
Increasing selling radius and revenue from sales.
Productivity improvement.
• High customer satisfaction.
On time delivery.
Tracking and tracing to the source.
Better control of product quality and safety.
Better information about the flow of products and market technologies.
Transparency of the supply chain.
Dissemination of technology, capital and knowledge among the chain partners.
Large investments and risks are shared among partners in the chain.
Gross capital formation at the back-end agriculture allied business.
Many of us like to read books or see a good movie. While so doing, often we come across a situation that is sad and causes pain, yet we go through till the end. This is how we find out why that situation or scenes were so depicted. We learnt from it how the goal was reached. So if one stops reading or watching from that chapter, one would not understand why that chapter or scene was shown. We get answers to questions that were not answered. Similarly, if unforeseen situations arise in the course of the shelf-life of any activity or project and we tend to put an end and find shortcuts to the problems, we won’t reach the set goals. This is a humble opinion of the situation at the NWM which was systematically planned and got many teething troubles in the course of implementation.
