by Surendra BISSOONDOYAL

Small planters have been our lifeline for generations, growing sugar cane and providing us with vegetables in spite of the vagaries of the weather, in spite of cyclones, in spite of World Wars and in spite of lack of insurance cover, available only for the sugar industry. They made sacrifices and it is their culture of living sparingly and saving whatever they could that saw them through difficult times.

It is during the aftermath of cyclones when we have to buy imported beans, carrots and cabbage at exorbitant prices that we realize how much we depend on small farmers. The rearing of cows for the production of milk, the rearing of chicken and production of eggs, as well as fishing have provided work and livelihood to thousands of Mauritians and their families, who learnt about the dignity of labour in the process. Some of these small enterprises have all but disappeared, taken over by large firms in which the workers find a place only as part of the overall statistics.

The shopkeepers who came from China also provided the population with its basic amenities through small shops in the towns and villages. Their hard work saw them through the initial periods of sacrifice and the following generations became professionals and businessmen in a broader sense. But a few stuck to shop keeping. Sik Yuen Supermarket, Super U and Ebene Way are examples of family businesses, which have expanded into large supermarkets that can hold their own in the face of competition from multinationals like Shoprite and Jumbo. Super Unic (Ram) in Q.-Bornes is another example of a small shop which, in less than two decades, has grown into a well-known and friendly neighbourhood supermarket.

There is however a disturbing tendency on the horizon. The recent brutal order to 250 small planters in Riche-Terre to ?quit and vacate? the land which they have been tilling for some sixty years is the kind of arrogance and stubbornness that made the West Bengal government ? run moreover by so-called communists ? climb down from its pedestal. The government wanted to create a Special Economic Zone for the setting up of a car factory by Tata Motors. The farmers who were going to be deprived of their land protested and some twenty of them were killed by the Police during the protests. The government had to shift the SEZ to another place.

The Central Indian government then decided that henceforth State governments should no longer buy the required land for private developers, but that the developers should purchase whatever land they want directly from the owners. Governments should not be brokers but facilitators.

Small farmers and small businessmen have no option but to modernize and stick together to face competition from multinationals. Their hard work, friendly approach to their customers and treating their employees as human beings will bring them greater dividends than the aloof and impersonal approach of multinationals.

Globalisation is the new mantra. Countries all over the world are keen to attract Foreign Direct Investment for their development and Mauritius is no exception. But it should beware of big fish swallowing up small fish to create monopolies and cartels. When workers become redundant, they and their families are the only ones to feel the tragedy that has befallen them. In India, where drought and floods play havoc with farmers? crops, lack of insurance cover has driven thousands to commit suicide, and those who were going to lose their means of livelihood threatened to do the same. The social costs of development have to be weighed against the economic advantages.