In this drawn-to-scale chart, B is the fraction of Mauritius under sugar cane. A is the rest of our island. The corresponding squares in the lower half of the diagram are the contributions of these sectors to our economy: sugar is expected to account for only 1.4% of GDP in 2012.
And S which is barely greater than what we have under sugar cane is Singapore. I've put a question mark there to represent its off the charts economy -- roughly twice the size of our passport.
Clearly there is way too much land under sugar cane. We could start by following Lalit's advice of bizin plant manze lor later tablisman. This will make us more resilient because it will ease pressure off our trade relationship with the rest of the world and improve food security at the same time. And having more of A and less of B will significantly boost the rate at which decent jobs are created in Mauritius. Without the galloping inflation bean-counters are so fond of delivering.
We should also restore progressiveness in our tax laws so that the claim that our PM is a socialist starts to ring true. And to put our fiscal house back on a sustainable path. Finally if we replace sugar cane with trees on a sufficient scale this could help us secure some extraordinary bragging rights: having the world's best air quality. Which will provide Mauritius with a killer tagline: Go Ahead, Take a Deep Breath!
16 comments:
For those who want to play, have fun with this toy. You can safely ignore this map which conceals more than it shows, so check here for progress on harvest by the "mother" industry...
So, what to do with 35,100 ha of sugar cane, out of the (77,418 + 1,468 =) 78,886 ha of arable land?
Ask three knowledgeable people whose passion is crop rearing: Eric, Kreepalloo and Dhaneshwar. And MSIRI too can have its suggestions.
Not so fast my friend. The 35,100ha don't include the area grown by independent planters (another 25k ha). Total 60k ha -- which is the type of figure I've used to draw the chart.
Confirmed by something you've posted before. And corroborated by digests of agricultural statistics produced by the CSO.
Wheat, anyone?
Did he just wake up after a couple of decades?
Sunset industry still begging for life-support...
Euuuuuttttaaaaaa zot pu retruv zot an konpetisyon direk avek Swaziland ek sidafrik. Monn vinn tris enn sel kut...
Triss? Abe ala enkor pliss:
"Dans le budget, nous apprenons que des ‘Smart Cities’ et des technopoles seront construites. Le problème, c’est que nous ne savons pas quel est le concept précis de ces ‘Smart Cities’. (...) Au final, il faut se demander si ces ‘Smart Cities’ ne vont pas, surtout, donner de la valeur aux terres des sucriers."
Link lartik Sewpal la tiena enn " de tro. Darshakon seye sanla.
Eski vreman neseser fer bel bel refleksyon pu kone ki nu ena enn output gap ase konsekan? Tiart laola pa fini dir tu?
So, as it stands right now the budget allows selling Mauritius in one fell swoop. Some plan eh?
Look at how one extraordinary Tiger uses the space it has.
Here's one who doesn't get it that in 2015 Singapore used the same land area that we have under sugar cane to produce 19 times our 2015 GDP.
Ala enn lot fosil. An plis li pe tialenj enn lot fosil pu lidersip Ptr. Pa komik sa?
Enn bon lartik par Lindsey Collen pu amenn enn perspectik istorik lor disik ek kann.
Just look at what proper land use management gives you as an aside to air-quality: crystal-clear nightscapes. Plus a host of other tangible benefits that are normally wiped out by light pollution...
A handy update on land use these days.
And a very crucial question:
"Instead of developing green field land, shouldn’t we be going towards brown field development and regeneration of our existing urban areas with delocalization and de-centralization of offices to regional levels? The work from home technique has proved its worth during the lockdown period."
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