Based on the novel SPPF ideas of the past 3 decades
NOW that the scarcity and rising prices of food are hot on the agenda, it is fitting to make an assessment of the policies adopted by the SPPF regime for the past 30 years.
The President seized the opportunity to get some PR mileage lately by paying a visit to the Seychellois bread basket Val d’Endor. Known for its variety of items from fruits and vegetables to livestock rearing, this region supplies most of our locally produced perishables. Michel got a good earful from the farmers on a range of issues affecting their productivity. He was able to assess for himself that 'zafer pa bon'.
Armed with his usual 'entourage' comprising Joel Morgan, he toured the farms and listened attentively to the livestock producers on their short comings. We wish to remind the President that his 'Stratezi 2017' does not treat Agriculture as a priority. They would rather encourage supermarkets with imported food items that can be produced locally. In fact, the topic only comes in at page 35 of this document.
Since it was presented upside down on SBC, it stands to reason that we have our priorities a bit warped. Today as we face this world food crisis, we are being forced to re-look at how we are going to best feed our people.
Herewith below an extract on the subject from an article we published on the review of the President's 'Strategy 2017' earlier this year:
Agriculture (p. 35) Economic mismanagement of the more than 30years of SPPF rule has left our country with no proper agricultural policy. The animal feed crisis that is now upon us is living proof that agriculture does not have a priority on the SPPF agenda. Today we are reaping the rewards of past failures such as Seycom, Nail, SMB and all the communist principles of state control. Scarcity of land means we have to import the bulk of our foodstuff. The lack of forex means erratic supply. The rupee devaluation means doubled prices… Zot pa les nou mor lafen! Nou pa pe gany nou 5 porsyon…
So, another round of visits, another set of promises! Michel now wants to give more land and better facilities “Scientific faming the way forward” blares the front page of Nation 19/5/08. Let's assess:
Who is responsible for the state that our farming industry is in today?
Who were implementing the policies for the last three decades?
How much land has been taken away from faming? How much is still being taken away today?
Whose idea was it to implement a communist cooperative system in this industry?
Mr. Michel was able to take stock and it did strike a chord when he puts on the revolutionary jib into getting things to 'bouz devan'. He has finally realised that its time to 'larg lanmen ban fermye' and abolish these quotas. Let's start an agricultural revolution! We need to modernise, get mechanised and be more scientific! Alas, all these noble ideas come too little too late. It is a failed report card as we now tell our children that we have nothing in the 'bife' for them to eat and they will have to fend for themselves. This is a perfect example of bad planning. By the way, where do we find the money to pay for this agro-revolution? Another loan perhaps?
To add insult to injury, the crowd of farmers did not mince their words when they made it known that they had already voiced these concerns two years ago when Jj did the rounds before the elections.
To make matters worse, Joel (another j there!) puts on his condescending starry eyed face to give a rambling on the forex spent to assist the farmers with their 'materyo'. Hey, we need to get our priorities right here! Either we want to grow this damn food to feed ourselves or we play Russian roulette.
Either way, we need to make some sense here. Perhaps this US$ 4.5 million floating somewhere out there in Dubai (no houses yet for it!) can go a long way to paying for the much needed 'materyo' which we now need for our nutritional survival.
“Zot aret zwe ek nou vant, large lanmen nou fermye!”