The last time I checked, shelter was third on the list of the basic necessities of human beings. The last administration, despite much squander, made giant leaps to solve the housing problems. As long as the population keeps growing, there will be need for more houses. Things are nowhere near perfect in this arena, but we’re getting by.
Clothing, listed as the second basic need of human beings, is not a hassle in Belize. Even the poorest people in Belize don’t have to sweat too much about putting clothes on their backs. Quality clothing (name brand) can be expensive. If you care to look okay there is relatively cheap clothing in the stores from the multi-national factories. If you are down and out, there are dollar clothes around. Of course, clothing is not really a basic need for people who live in the tropics. In tropical countries clothing is 95% about decency: you don’t need it until the North Wind blows.
Before we step out to where we are going, there is potential for tailors and seamstresses to bite more into the Belizean pie. Yes.
Belizeans, except for that other party, won’t condemn the government if they don’t actually lower the cost of fuel, and so. But there’ll be hell to pay if Belizeans go hungry in the new Jerusalem. In respect to food, the concern in Belize has been more about quality than quantity, but with the cost of food rising seemingly everyday …
Food is the top priority for the nation. The core populations of Belize have not had quality food on their tables for a long, long time. Slaves, captured in Africa and brought here on ships, were fed a ration of salt pork and flour. The nation spawned by these slaves improved their diet with rice, beans, corn, fish, fowl, and game meat. Today that group has replaced the fish and game meat with unhealthy ground cow and pig offals, in tin.
The Mayans, whose staple was corn, beans, squash, and game meat and fish, still eat corn and beans. The squash is a minimal part of the diet now (replaced by rice), and, with the game meat gone from the forest, and fishes having dwindled in the rivers and lagoons, they satisfy that part of their diet with a chicken here and there, and unhealthy ground cow and pig offals, in tin.
Belizeans ate fruits in season, and a smattering of vegetables…vegetables have never been a staple of our diet. The cost of fruits (notably except for bananas) and vegetables has not been affordable for the masses for a while now.
The last administration did well to encourage the onion industry, and the potato industry. Apart from putting more dollars in farmers’ pockets, this was good for foreign exchange. But local production of onion and potatoes did not reduce the cost of food on the Belizean table.
The last time I checked, a pineapple cost $4 in Belmopan and Belize City. Then, a farmer was very happy at the gate with a dollar or dollar twenty-five for his fruit. The cost of inputs has gone up some, but a pineapple is still relatively cheap to produce. A part of the cost of the fruit is the middleman’s cut, but that does not explain the $3 increase from farm gate to market. There are other costs, and the giant task for the MoAF (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries) is to reduce those other costs so that the price on the market shelf is nearer to the farm gate price.
Economies of scale do not work in the favor of Belize. Countries with larger populations will always be able to produce food and other goods more cheaply. The last administration, to the detriment of the social fabric, applied base capitalist principles to the national transportation system. Base capitalist principles would work well to secure cheap, quality food for the nation.
The bigger the farms, the lower the cost of production. Food is cheap in America because they eliminated the small farmer. The children of farmers in America went to work in the manufacturing industry. We definitely don’t want, and are not prepared to go there. For one, we don’t have the manufacturing, the capacity to absorb displaced primary producers; and for two, the vibrant, independent farmer and fisher folk population is the flavor in the pot. Belize is still a good country because we allow the independent spirit to thrive.
The MoAF has worked, and is working hard to introduce new technologies and systems to farmers to increase their efficiency but, with the cost of inputs going up (wiping out these gains), can the government overcome and provide quality food at a cheaper cost for the nation, without displacing the small, independent farmer/fisher folk, and the small, independent middleman? It can, by increasing efficiency in transportation and storage, the other links in the food chain. Maximizing on economies of scale in these areas is necessary if we will not disturb the national fabric…displace the small farmer and the small middleman.
The MoAF has the vehicle to address both these deficiencies. It can do so through the Marketing Board.
The MoAF must buy a fleet of super efficient trucks, and set up a mechanism to pick up farm produce and farmers at the farm gate. Because these trucks will be strictly for transportation of farmers and their products, not for gallivanting, the consumption of fuel will be controlled. Because the use of fuel would be controlled, GOB could, without much drain on the national purse, subsidize it.
And, the MoAF must invest in refrigeration in all the towns, and the two cities. Farmers and middlemen should be able to store their perishable goods in a cool place, for a reasonable fee.
Unfortunately, there is a fly in the ointment here. MoAF might be tentative because such participation in the chain might appear socialist in application. To heck with that, feed the people.
Improving the culinary skills of Belizean cooks, especially in the preparation of locally produced foods like squash, kalalu, other vegetables, and beans, is another important initiative the MoAF could undertake. I have eaten from many pots in my time, and I will tell you that not all cooks are equal. There are many good cooks in Belize; many more are not cutting it. Tastily prepared and promoted local foods would encourage Belizeans to eat more of the healthy foods we grow.
The cost of food must be brought down. Quality, well-prepared foods must be on every Belizean table.
Step to the plate, MoAF. Hey, happy Agric and Trade Show weekend to all.