A farsighted farmer had invested massively in a lengthy well planned process of food production. Right from land clearing and land preparation with the use of heavy and fine machinery which had rendered his rocky and bushy fields highly productive flat lands with very fine tilth. The farm was eventually planted with remunerative cash crops and they were coming up very well with all indications of bumper cropping. Unfortunately, the farmer fell sick and passed away. The children who inherited the farms complained that their father had burdened them with debts.
This is not a story but the scenario that is being repeated since many years in most sectors of the economy. Little did the children realise that whatever would come out of the fields would be more than enough to service all debts and also leaving more than sufficient resources to plough back in the fields. All planning, investments, production mechanisms and ground works had been done long time back and what was left to be done was just reaping of benefits accruing therefrom and ploughing back in a well-organised manner for the future. But that also is not being properly done.
It is often said that a good seed of any food crop and a beautiful smile from someone are hundred times similar to each other. When one good seed is sown in a good and healthy soil it will yield many times more than the ordinary ones. “Agriculture is the backbone of our economy” – this was the slogan of pre and post-independence days and it unfortunately seems to be long forgotten. These days, farming as a profession are the last call of any individual. All prefer white collar jobs. They can’t be blamed as farming or working the soil is considered to be degrading and this has become the least priority of the GOVERNMENT.
In the past there were many sugar factories around the country and each sugar factory was breathing life, happiness and socioeconomic development in its area. As time went by, some economic forces compelled dismantling those factories in the name of efficiency. How efficient has that scheme proved to be? Was it for the workers and the cane planters and métayers of sugar factories or for the owners and shareholders? The results are like the writings on the walls. Coal and oil are taking the place of bagasse and the villages of the surrounding are lifeless.
In many sugar factories in the past, respective managements had been trying means and ways to generate profits which were possible by way of diversifying agro-productions with crops like maize, potatoes, ground nuts and other crops and vegetables as recommended by the research institutions. Even oil seeds like sunflower were being grown in the sixties. It was rare to find pure stand or interlines of first and second ratoon fields without anything grown on them.
Organisations like Agricultural cooperatives, Young Farmers Clubs and Agricultural Youth Clubs amongst others were flourishing. Government was assisting by giving incentives and encouraging sugar estates in renting out the unutilized pure state lands and interlines to these organisations and even to métayer planters in order of priority. Many of today’s top civil servants have passed through those vocational movements. Agricultural research and extension was actively participating in the Government’s programs. It is of common belief in India and other food producing countries that the disappearance of a single farmer creates a shortage in food for hundreds of people for the future.
The diets of the rich and the hungry and daily nutrition of the ordinary citizens are as important and essential for each other. Across the board subsidization of food items are not only beneficial to those in needs but also to the rich, hotels and restaurants included.
Agriculture is being put in the back seat by the Government. Investments are being made in smart cities, Highways and flyovers and race courses in the name of modernization are undoubtedly important but a right balance must be struck in terms of treatment. Considerations need also to be given to the important issues that are affecting food production. Year in year out, consumers face the rise in prices of vegetables and other consumables. Yet that issue of far reaching prices and flow in availability could have been solved by immaculate thinking over and planning.
After repeated requests, the Ministry of Agro Industry has finally organised a national workshop, Les Assises de L’agriculture. This initiative needs to be commended. It englobed the usual exhibition cum sales of agro-products and most importantly a workshop to work out the way forward. It is hoped that the outcome will be to the expectations of the farming community and a revolution be observed as in the years 1984-87 and 2005-2012 where tangible progress of the sector were noted. It is to be noted that very few innovative products were exhibited or stressed upon. Entrepreneurs in food processing which mainly encompassed the pickled products were given priority. Many of them were closed on the last day. Issues relating to the problems faced by producers were not given any visibility. Climate change and other related topics were not visible in the exhibition. In social media many positive remarks were noted but those emanated mostly from visitors and not from the producers. Accessibility was also an issue.
Printing of leaflets and production of illustrative books no doubt contribute but the real results will be obtained by individual or personal contact approach. Unfortunately, we are missing the bus time and again. If the bus does not have a driver on board and left in the hands of the conductor then, the crash will be inevitable.
The latest report of the Mauritius Audit Office on the Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security has highlighted issues that relate to mismanagement and laisser-aller which are being practiced in the Ministry’s Divisions and Parastatals. It won’t be possible to raise those in the present paper but they will certainly be discussed at large in a subsequent one. Just to mention a few as raised that need immediate attention to the Food Production and Food Security issue; we have the Land Use and the rationale of allocation thereof and the non-respect of the provisions of the Laws governing the very foundations and visibility of the Parastatal organisations falling under its purview, namely the timely submissions of annual reports. That is unimaginable and as such the respective institutions render themselves as outlaw organisations.
Not very long ago a company was building a hotel in the southern part of the country. Government helped in constructing a four-way traffic highway at high costs to facilitate in commuting the incoming tourists. Why these types of facilities are not being thought for the agri-industrial sector? Côte D’Or, an area which is ideally suited for good agro industrial development, has been deplorably sacrificed to the advantage of land speculation. Yet, farmers are accepting peanuts as compensation even though they are paying to get themselves registered to be recognised as one by Government. If there were unity among them, the situation would be bound to be different.
Applauses and number of people (who in most of the cases are being vehicled at high costs), attending rallies do not help in winning elections. It is the people who vote and elect that matters. Their living conditions and factors affecting same need to be understood and remedies brought to solve those need to be brought forward. This has been amply proven by provision of increase in retirement benefits to senior citizens and free bus transport to students; an emanation from a door-to-door exercise.
