This tiny spot in the Indian Ocean which is trumpeted as a “plaisir” country is certainly not one for those who are engaged in the agricultural sector. This government misses no opportunity to hark back at the desirability of food security and the huge export bills which the country forks out every year for the benefit of agricultural producers in other parts of the world.

In order to achieve food security, the Government really needs to democratise all those accessories which are crucial for the viability of agriculture. Already the number of small-scale planters is being systematically whittled away. The costs of fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides, for example, keep increasing regularly at a time when the return on sugar is going down. The large sugar producers have economies of scale which make it profitable for them to continue in this activity of sugar. And, should there be a shortfall, they have the possibility of parceling off lands to recoup or to start an IRS project. Land is no longer a space for agricultural production. Land is a commodity which the large land-owners use to maximize their profits.

The small planter does not have that option and his disappearance is already programmed. At a time when the number of countries that are producing fertilizers and pesticides is on the increase it is hard to understand why the existing companies that have been in this line of business for centuries do not look for alternative cheaper sources of procurement. Unfortunately, the Government has not been paying sufficient attention to the programmed slow death of the small planter. Giving one puny bag of fertilizer is a token gesture which will not stop the planned death.

One could be forgiven for thinking that the Competition Commission is a body that is alert about what is going on in Mauritius. But one would be wrong since the oligopoly in the tangential agricultural sector is being consolidated. What makes it worse for the small planter is the introduction of new insects and parasites which have devastated the vegetable crops in the north of the country. The authorities have “quarantined” the north in the hope that the pests and insects are law-abiding and will comply strictly with the quarantine measures. They may have signaled to their fellow pests that they need to avoid contraventions – specially the newly installed speed cameras which miss nothing – and stay where they are so that they can be easily exterminated. But nature has its own way of protecting all species and, pests being pests, they love to make an appearance everywhere. In the process it is great business for the pest control agents.

Some might think that this is a tempest in a teacup. It is definitely not as whatever money the small planter thinks of making from his efforts in keeping up in agriculture is gulped down by the costs of purchasing his fertilizer etc. Now that the crop season is about to start, the “sugar arsonists” are getting ready.

Maybe the Police should prepare better to prevent the burning of standing crops. The Police must act since it is only the fields of small planters that are targeted by the arsonists.