That's right. In 2001 we produced a little over 129,000 metric tonnes of food crops and almost 8,800 metric tonnes of fish. The corresponding numbers for 2007 are lower by a whopping 27% and 33% respectively. In fact the fish production numbers hovered within a narrow range of 8,800 and 9,400 tonnes between 2000 and 2006 before free-falling to less than 6,000 tonnes last year.
Shouldn't that be a cause for alarm in these times of agriflation and given that the eating habits of Mauritians are not exactly world-beaters? I am sure we can do a lot better with the world's 14th largest exclusive economic zone than to include it once in a while in a dumb speech usually appreciated while ingesting some oily gato pima.
Heard XLD saying that agriculture has crashed in Rodrigues -- fallen by two thirds -- because they get only 2 hours of water every... month. So it's again a problem of lack of funds. But XLD's been a big part of trickle-down economics and of the massive amount of poverty created. In fact PJ introduced a solidarity levy in the 2011 budget and then XLD took over. What did he do to put the finances of Mauritius on a sustainable track?
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