Some farmers, who had invested their toil and money into arable land at Anse Royale, and put the land under intensive cultivation, are getting ready to move. The SPPF Government has announced its intention to use the site for the University of Seychelles and other building purposes.
This newspaper has learnt that in one case, the farmer is already having a caterpillar and other heavy machinery move rocks to clear a two-acre site at Anse Soleil for agricultural purposes. The man says no offer of alternative site for his intensive cultivation has yet been made and he is taking no chances.
That part of Anse Royale was producing a lot of vegetables and fruits, such as paw paws, lettuce, tomatoes and pumpkins. The farmers had invested a lot in infrastructure and equipments such as shade cloth, water pipes, tanks and sprinklers. Such investment can only be redeemed after several years.
A large area of agricultural land is also being taken over at Au Cap to build the school and a new playing field. At Au Cap, several acres of land which was being farmed by Mr. Philippe Jumeau, who had received it on a long lease, have now been purchased by no other than the controversial Dr Ramadoss. It is very unlikely that Jack-of-all-trade and Master-of-none Ramadoss will now add farming to his list of business activities.
If, as one SPPPF MNA estimated, the area of agricultural land is around 600 hectares, or 10% of what it was at independence, it has shrunk considerably with the latest developments at a time when everyone is talking about food security amid the global food crisis.
The Government has meanwhile announced that 15 hectares on the newly reclaimed Ile du Port is to be made available to persons interested in high-tech agriculture- using fertigation methods, already used by the Chinese technicians here. While the university could have been built at Ile du Port and the land at Anse Royale continue to be used for agricultural purposes, the SPPF Government, including the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, Minister Joel Morgan, in their wisdom are suggesting that cultivation can best be undertaken on coral fill! This is yet another example of bad planning by the SPPF as the reclaimed land at Ile du Port was initially ear marked for the building of the biggest Industrial Fishing Port in the region turning Seychelles into a strategic and important hub in the Indian Ocean and East Africa. Lately, the Government has changed its mind yet again by allowing the National Assembly, a smaller fishing port and now agriculture to exist side by side on Ile du Port. Anything else for Ile du Port?