Dear Editor,
We are on the verge of experiencing an inevitable food price crunch. We will once again be forced to consume what we produce. This, however, presupposes that our produce will be cheaper than the imported foodstuff so prevalent in our markets. Will this mean everyone will be a farmer?
At least part time. To combat this crisis over the longer term will require large-scale plantation farms with appropriately applied technology and the use of scientific methods of farming.
It will also require superior storage facilities, and dehydration comes to mind as a cheaper method to preserve and transport agricultural produce. It will also require loans to the agriculture sector with realistic interest rates and insurance for livestock and crops if we are to see resurgence in this area. This time it is a question of survival and at the same time an opportunity to step beyond potential and enter real business.
The government has to educate the populace by engaging nutritionists countrywide, who would create various menus with high nutritional values and low cost.
These menus should detail, what is required to sustain an individual on a daily basis.
NutritionistS will have to show citizens what is available locally (produced here) at low cost and take into consideration cultural aspects of our diets.
The waste that is evident at all of our markets at the end of each day clearly lets us know that we have to find a way to prevent such loss and make the produce affordable for most of our people.
Whilst we encourage our under and unemployed to take up agriculture in the short term, we must simultaneously find markets for our traditional farmers to export within the region and perhaps further, since our objective is not to displace our farmers, but to create opportunities.
In the meantime, however, it would not hurt to clear that bush around the yard and nurture a plant or two.
If an essential commodity is too expensive it will be stolen. Can we afford electrical power derived from fossil fuel? I predict that with any further rise above US$125 a barrel ninety per cent of this population will not be able to afford electricity supplied by the utility. Despite the power company’s best efforts to reduce costs by using heavy fuel, urging consumers to conserve, introducing pre-paid meters (who will be responsible for calibration of these meters?) and hopefully reducing their technical and commercial losses, these steps cannot keep pace with the spiralling cost of fuel. We must prepare ourselves for load shedding and extended blackouts.
Certainly, opportunities are presented for entrepreneurs to really push solar and wind energy just like some stores very successfully sell furniture and other appliances on terms in this country.
The banking institutions in this regard have an excellent opportunity to compete with each other and other ‘stores of credit’ by making funds available to consumers for such purchases. This move will allow the banking institutions to become a part of the solution.
By the way, do you know that it is cheaper to purchase ice and keep it frozen in your refrigerator than to make your own ice? Your electricity bill will reflect this fact most readily, if it is indeed being read. A simple project for our 4th and 5th form science students to conduct – the savings are considerable. It would be interesting to see the amount saved by consumers in this area alone.
Vulnerable groups! How are these defined? To my mind the working heads of households are also vulnerable.
Allowances for children under 18 years who attend an institution of learning should be implemented; in this way all working families can benefit, based on their immediate needs. We must ensure that it is more profitable for citizens to work, than to collect assistance.
Government’s intervention at this time must be welcomed even though the measures will have to be continuously revisited in order to really achieve relief for the majority of the population.
What is totally missing is the responsibility factor, ie, how many children does a particular family consist of? Do they have a mortgage?
One cannot just give blanket relief without considering these other factors. Single parent headed households need to be assisted but other families with large responsibilities are also in dire need of help. I wonder what the cane-cutters think of the relief being offered to civil servants.
Therefore, we look forward to a well-thought-out programme to deliver ongoing relief to our working citizens and a safety net for the unemployed and sometimes unemployable.
The drove of people sleeping on our streets is increasing at an alarming rate. We must remember that those on the streets now were once somewhere else.
Yours faithfully,
Everall Franklin, MP
