Anyone young enough to remember the 1974 election campaign, the last pre-independence poll, in which the Seychelles Democratic Party trounced SPUP by 13 seats to two, cannot forget that Mr. Albert Rene focused it on outer island development, linking food self-sufficiency to independence, his battle–cry.
Mr. Rene promised that after SPUP victory he would grow maize and other foodstuffs on these islands. Many were very surprised, therefore, to hear a senior National Development official declare emphatically amid the animal feed crisis, that growing maize on the islands was just impossible. That is tantamount to saying that Mr. Rene was wrong all along.
In fact, Mr. Rene’s dream of developing the outer islands for agricultural purposes lingered quite a long while after his 1977 coup d’Etat. During the June 5 speeches, he often insisted that the islands were needed to grow maize. In those days, he never mentioned tourism development.
Older generations claim that large quantities of maize from the islands, notably Farquhar, Mr. Rene’s birthplace, were supplied in colonial times to poultry and pig farms. Such was, for instance at Cote D’Or, (ex-Souyave property) later compulsorily acquired.
This newspaper has learned that the few containers of maize stuck at the port during the animal feed shortage will last just a week. Hopefully, foreign exchange will be made available to pay for fresh consignments.
Otherwise, let us brace ourselves for a long shortage of eggs, boiler chicken and pork. Another bleaker prospect is that most farmers are now running at a loss and might close down altogether, leaving us with no alternative but imports.
And we have no foreign exchange for that. And Ramkalawan voted yes for the budget.