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In an article published last Thursday on L’Express, we were informed of the inauguration of an aquaculture farm in Bambous: Val Farms Ltd. It is a laudable project and hopefully the drive and competency of this young entrepreneur will be crowned with success. All previous attempts to breed fresh water fish & prawns have not lasted for many reasons.  Flopped Berri Rouge  farming was the last attempt which was sponsored by the government fisheries department. The Mauritian public turned their back to the Berri rouge fish and would not accept to consume the fish. Barramundi the Australian fish would appear to appeal more to the local taste; the proof of the budding will be in the eating. Good luck and a courageous salute to Mr. Mike Koon.

To produce 60000tons of fish per year with an investment of 4 millions rupees seems too good to be true. I suspect that the reporter must have mixed up to figures. It was stated in the article that Mauritius imported 58 million rupees worth of fish. Will the farms be producing fish worth 5400 000 000 rupees based on the indicative price of Rs 45/ per half kilo?

Extract from L’Express

 

La première récolte de berris rouges se fera dans deux mois. “Après une étude de marché, nous avons trouvé que le berri rouge avait un grand potentiel d’exploitation pour nous”, révèle Mike Koon. L’australien barramundi a, quant à lui, été plus compliqué à gérer de par son adaptation difficile. “À chaque fois, il faut importer le barramundi et le taux de mortalité est très élevé. Nous en avons importé 84 000 et pensons en récolter 5 000 en août. Mais nous espérons avoir des géniteurs pour pouvoir reproduire les barramundis ici”,affirme Mike Koon. Selon lui, le barramundi a aussi un grand potentiel car sa chair serait comparable à celle de la “Vielle Rouge”.

La ferme de Bambous a nécessité un investissement tournant autour des Rs 4 millions. Elle emploie aujourd’hui dix personnes. Le projet est une idée de l’oncle de Mike Koon, mais ce dernier s’était déjà spécialisé dans l’aquaculture. “J’ai étudié pendant quatre ans en Australie et j’ai aussi travaillé dans des organisations gouvernementales dans le domaine là-bas”, explique-t-il. Il a aussi assuré la formation de tout son personnel.

60 000 tonnes par an

Pour sa première récolte, Val Farms Ltd devrait avoir un rendement variant entre 3 000 et 5 000 tonnes de poissons. Sur le long terme, l’entreprise a une capacité de récolte de 60 000 tonnes par an. Elle compte aussi inclure les camarons dans son élevage. “Pour l’instant, nous avons quelques camarons à l’état expérimental. Nous voulons les avoir en biculture plus tard”, conclut Mike Koon.

Maurice importe actuellement du poisson à hauteur de Rs 58 millions par an. Val Farms Ltd espère trouver preneur pour ses poissons rapidement. Pour l’instant, il est prévu que le berri rouge soit mis en vente à Rs 45 le demi-kilo et le barramundi à Rs 80 le demi-kilo.

Muhammad Yunus was made a Nobel Prize winner in 2006 and had been honoured by the world Press for his deeds. What can we learn from his action and drive in the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh which we could copy here in Mauritius? Micro Credit may well be a remedy to the “casseur” plague that some of the under privileged of Mauritius are suffering from. According to INSEAD: Social enterprise, Using micro credit to help to lift the poor out of poverty is still posting dramatic growth. In China, this idea had been used for centuries. Even in the early days of the arrival of Chinese traders in Mauritius, they had the same cooperative union system amongst themselves.

Kashf is an example of lesson learned from Yunus. It’s a non-profit organization which has been posting dramatic growth while focusing on providing micro credit and social support services to women entrepreneurs at the bottom of the so-called wealth pyramid.

Since its launch in 1996, Kashf has grown to become the third-largest microfinance institution in Pakistan with some 69 branches, more than 135,000 customers and about 90 million US dollars in outstanding loans.

Today, I spoke to Dharamjeet Bucktowar who has been involved with credit union for years in Mauritius. He told me that micro financing is progressing. The cooperative movement gives support to any group wanting to operate a micro finance project. However, he would have expected a much greater expansion of the cooperative movement. I am pleased to learn that Caritas is still involved in promoting this type of Social Enterprise. The funds available in the Paroisse de Ste Therese which I saw the inception now runs in million of Rupees. This is thanks to the motivation of the leaders and the able management of a few willing contributors.

Why not teach credit union at school and start a model credit union at the University of Mauritius? I would suggest to Dharamjeet to start Credit Union in all tertiary institutions of the country as a practicing ground.These students would certainly learn first hand to enhance their leadership,organizational,managerial,and communications skills.

According to the Helsinki-based World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) of the United Nations University, if you own more than US$ 61000 (Rs. 183000) worth of assets, then you are in amongst the richest 10 percent of adults in the world.This study is on personal wealth & house hold wealth.

2 percent of the world richest inhabitants own half of the world’s wealth. Where is the social justice? Where is the equitable distribution of wealth?

Surprisingly, household debt is relatively unimportant in poor countries. As the authors of the study point out: ‘While many poor people in poor countries are in debt, their debts are relatively small in total. This is mainly due to the absence of financial institutions that allow households to incur large mortgage and consumer debts, as is increasingly the situation in rich countries’

Wider goes on to note that ‘many people in high-income countries have negative net worth and—somewhat paradoxically—are among the poorest people in the world in terms of household wealth.’

In his editor’s note Jean Claude de l’Estrac last Sunday mentioned the WIDER study to highlight how difficult the task of ‘democratisation de l’economie’ is hard to achieve. The question would seem to be: let us create wealth before proceeding to a more equitable distribution. “Wealth breeds wealth: poverty breeds poverty” goes the popular wisdom.

Is it possible to work on both score concurrently? The ideal would be to generate wealth whilst planting the seed to a better social justice? Some would argue that you cannot have your cake and eat it! Could we work towards growing the cake so that the slice of each one will be larger?

As from this week the hunting season has started in Mauritius. Before trying out hunting, I had always disdained this activity thinking of the cruelty of killing a poor animal with a gun and more over calling this activity a sport. After two hunting trips at Bel Ombre hunting ground, I understood the purpose of this activity without which we would not have the joy of tasting venison in Mauritius. The cruelty which seemed to be connoted to this activity could be weighted against the benefits of rearing deer and the conservation of nature. Deer hunting of in essence in Mauritius is a way of preserving nature whilst providing sporting activities and some economic activities. Without being a hunter, I would miss out my delicious cholesterol free red venison if there was no more hunting!

Much light is thrown on this activity with its historic back ground in the issue of the Mauricien this week.

Il était une fois le Cervus timorensis russa…

La saison de la chasse aux cerfs s’est ouverte hier et le restera jusqu’à la fin d’août, quatre mois durant lesquels quelques amateurs pourront ainsi se livrer à leur passion. Alors que, pour la majorité des Mauriciens, ce sera l’occasion de déguster plus aisément ce gibier particulièrement apprécié, une viande ne tombant sous le coup d’aucun interdit d’ordre religieux. Histoire de l’élevage d’un animal dont l’introduction sur l’île date de plus de trois siècles et demi, à l’époque même de l’introduction de la canne à sucre.

C’est en 1639, alors que l’île était gouvernée par le Hollandais Adrian Van Der Steel, que le vaisseau Keppel, en provenance de l’île de Java, débarqua sur l’île les premiers cerfs, à Grand-Port, afin de pourvoir les colons en viande fraîche, après qu’ils eurent exterminé le Dodo. Ces premiers cerfs, de l’espèce des Cervus timorensis russa, sont aujourd’hui encore la seule espèce élevée à Maurice. Après avoir été mis en liberté dans la forêt la plus proche, ils s’adaptèrent si bien à leur nouvel environnement que, une cinquantaine d’années plus tard, le gouverneur Lamothius faisait savoir à ses supérieurs du Cap de Bonne Espérance que, le cerf étant en surabondance, à Maurice, la viande de celui-ci pourrait être conservée par salaison et expédiée en grande quantité au service de la Compagnie.

En 1710, après le départ des Hollandais, les quelques individus mis en liberté au pied de la Montagne du Lion au sud-est de l’île, proliférèrent si bien que les Français, à leur arrivée en 1722 trouvèrent des animaux très gras, principalement dans la région nord-ouest de l’île qui devait devenir Port-Louis. L’extension de la canne à sucre nécessita cependant la migration des cerfs sur les terres avoisinantes et impropres à toutes cultures. La chasse, alors sportive et récréative, était en ce temps pratiquée sans réglementation. Celle-ci devait apparaître quatre ans plus tard, en 1726, concernant notamment la diminution du nombre de chiens utilisés en battues.

En 1749 la chasse sportive est abolie, la viande de cerf devant être disponible en quantité nécessaire au ravitaillement des quelque 120 vaisseaux mouillant annuellement à Port-Louis. Le retour de la chasse récréative, en 1790, voit l’arrivée de nouvelles réglementations, concernant notamment la période durant laquelle elle est autorisée (du 15 mai au 30 août), ainsi que la délimitation des terrains de chasse de chaque propriétaire. De 1790 à 1870, les parties de chasse s’organisent de mieux en mieux. De grandes battues sont mises en place avec la participation de nombreux porteurs de fusils, rabatteurs avec leurs chiens, piqueurs-fusils et autres. Les parties de chasse, qui jusqu’alors duraient une matinée, avec déjeuner sur le mirador, se prolongèrent sur deux jours – les chasseurs couchant dans les bois -, alors qu’apparaît, par ailleurs, une exploitation plus judicieuse des forets avec notamment la création de plaines plus ouvertes.

Vers 1860, les grands propriétaires de chasse ont adjoint à leurs terres celles de la Couronne qui y sont contiguës. Sur leurs vastes domaines où ils détiennent presque tous les droits de chasse, ils mettent en place leur propre réglementation visant à la conservation et à la reproduction de leurs troupeaux : pas d’abattage de biches ou de daguets, certains allant même jusqu’à empêcher l’abattage des trois-cornichons. Sur les hauts plateaux, le développement de hardes de cerfs est à son apogée. Les véhicules circulant entre les 15e et 17e miles, sur la route de Port-Louis à Grand-Port, étaient souvent obligés de s’arrêter pour laisser passer les troupeaux…

Expropriation

Cet apogée des troupeaux cervidés va être suivi d’un déclin dû, en 1878, à la peste bovine, qui va contaminer les cerfs ; à ce fléau va s’ajouter l’expropriation des terres incultes pour le reboisement, ainsi que le morcellement et la location des grandes terres de chasses, sans discernement. Les habitants des hauts plateaux se réveillent chaque matin avec des cadavres de cerfs sur leurs pelouses… Des nouveaux clubs de chasse se forment, mais avec un abattage systématique du gibier sans stratégie de conservation. La population de cerfs, presque complètement décimée, doit sa survie à sa résistance et à son aptitude à s’adapter. À ce constat, au tournant des XIXe et XXe siècles, quelques propriétaires souhaitant développer au mieux leurs terres, importent les nouvelles espèces de pâturages que sont le raygrass et l’herbe d’argent (Ishaemum Aristatum L.) Ces propriétaires ayant à cÅ“ur le développement du cerf se regroupent le 25 mai 1921 et forment la “Société des Chasseurs”.

C’est à partir de 1950 que, quelques propriétaires, fatigués de la migration de leurs hardes de part et d’autre de leurs balisages décident de clôturer leurs terres. Ainsi paraissent les premiers élevages extensifs appelés “chassés” avec le suivi du troupeau d’une année sur l’autre, la mise en place des quotas de chasse pour la gestion du nombre et de la qualité du gibier.

Entre-temps, la Première Guerre mondiale et la crise économique de 1929, voient la mise en place d’une réglementation, en 1939, qui oblige de nombreux propriétaires à mettre de la venaison sur le marché pour l’approvisionnement, en viande fraîche, de la population.

In many countries, May Day is also Labor Day. This originates with the United States labor movement in the late 19th Century, and very much inspired by similar actions taken earlier in Canada. On May 1, 1886, unions across the country went on strike, demanding that the standard workday be shortened to eight hours. The organizers of these strikes included socialists, anarchists, and others in organized labor movements. Rioting in Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 4th including a bomb thrown by an anarchist led to the deaths of a dozen people (including several police officers) and the injury of over 100 more.

The protests were not immediately successful, but they proved effective down the line, as eight-hour work days eventually did become the norm. Labor leaders, socialists, and anarchists around the world took the American strikes and their fallout as a rallying point, choosing May Day as a day for demonstrations, parades, and speeches. It was a major state holiday in the Soviet Union and other communist countries.

Labor Day is still celebrated on May 1 in countries around the world, and it is still often a day for protests and rallies. In recent years, these have often been targeted against globalization.

May 1st, often called May Day, just might have more holidays than any other day of the year. It’s a celebration of spring. It’s a day of political protests. It’s a neopagan festival, a saint’s feast day, and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday.

Pope Leon XIII and later Pie XI who were very concerned about the condition of workers in the emerging Industrial era gave a Christian dimension to the Labour Day by declaring that the day will be under the Patronage of St. Joseph, the carpenter, father of Jesus. The example of St. Joseph throws a new light to the dignity of labour. Model worker to be followed, according to the Christian teachings, St. Joseph’s work was not only his means to offer his labour for his own betterment and that of his family, the perfection of nature around him and for the progress of the community, also a means to be in union and contributing to the mission of Jesus. Hence the effort of labour becomes a prayer.

I asked a few people: what is the public holiday for according to you? One replied it is Labour Day: a day of rest for the workers. Another one said: Labour day: day for political rallies. None of them thought of the Labour Day as a day of celebration and thanks giving for the work that provides us our sense of usefulness and dignity. Even for me who am, so to say “retired” I do need to have this sense of usefulness, a purpose in life?

I would rather see today as a day of celebration organised by the work force to give themselves a sense of pride & dignity and to discuss their contribution to the betterment of our society.

Bonne Fete a tous!

I am pleased to read on today’s newspaper that a report of the consultants on Aquaculture was given at a workshop destined to operators in the field. Both l’Express and le Matinal featured reports thereon. From what I have read on various reports of the FAO, Aquaculture will be a growing market of the future. The industry has grown by over tenfold in five years in Greece only.Aquaculture in Turkey is reported to grow even faster! On the other side, the EC has decreased the quota of the catch of wild fish in northern Europe to save the ecology and the eco-system of over exploitation of fish resources. Nature cannot sustain the level in some area and experts fear that some spices of fish may disappear forever. On the other hand the demand for fish is increasing.

The great advantage of Tropical Sea Aquaculture is that due to the higher temperature the rate of growth of the fish is much faster.

What are the main attractions of Mauritius as a world class Tropical Aquaculture center?

1. The sea region of Mauritius is very vast compared to the land region.

2. The sea region is off the polluted seafaring shipping lanes.

3. The industry is new and could be set up with the international norms in respect of the ecological requirement of today.

Idée the consultants commissioned for this study seems to advise that Mauritius could produce an annual 10000 tons of fish within the lagoon of Mauritius by developing expertise in floating nets. At a later stage, the same techniques could be extended to the deeper waters in our territory.Whilst it is necessary to have norms and rules establish by the authorities, I am skeptical to the contribution of the different government bureaucratic institutions to be set up as announced by our minister.

I dream of seeing complete floating farms and processing plants being implemented right in the middle of the Indian Ocean outside the cyclonic zone.

The very best Easter wishing card I got….At least it gives the essence of the feast we were celebrating.

I saw the bus load of holidayer s and cars filled up to the brim with merry and not so sober passengers driving back from Flic en Flac last night. I could not prevent me from thinking 1. I am pleased to know that so many people are rejoicing for the festivities and 2. I wonder how many of them understand the meaning of this feast.

Alleluia

My interest in the future of the world is natural and I would like to get more people to be drawn to the global warming and the harm we are making to the environment. To think that the sun is supplying us with 12000times more energy that we need and yet we are burning fossil fuel more that we should, is really disheartening.

Time magazine came out with: “The global warming survival guide” recently. I would encourage every one of you to read through the 51 tips given and to act positively to our need to reduce the effect of global warming personally.

We do not unfortunately in Mauritius seem to be concerned with world environment phenomenon. Or at least I do not see it mentioned enough in the media. Our government does not seem to undertake remedial actions, pass laws and enforce measures to attack the global warming effect. A very simple action like changing the bulbs that are lighting our roads and towns with more efficient and environment friendly ones would have been a good start.The question is who foots the bill for the electricity and who cares!

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Light Up Your City

Cities can save energy—and money—by illuminating public spaces with LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. Last December Raleigh, N.C., turned one floor of a municipal parking garage into a testing ground for LEDs The new white, brighter fixtures use 40% less electricity than the high-pressure sodium bulbs they replaced. Although they cost two to three times as much, they can go five or more years without upkeep. Traditional bulbs must be replaced every 18 months. Other types of LEDs are already at work in traffic lights, outdoor displays (like those in New York City’s Times Square) and stadiums; airports even use LEDs on their taxiways. If your city is still burning tax money on old lights, ask the mayor why.

UnQuote

Today, is the feast of St Joseph. my Feast day!It is also the date I have chosen to travel to France for a couple to days.During this trip,I intend to visit Association pour le Proges du Management in Paris, attend the yearly seminar in Evian of the APM and later undergo a treatment of laser therapy.

Having decided that I can not carry with me my laptop,I shall probably less present on my blog.

I am typing out this blog from the airport lounge. I was happily suprised to see the improvements made for the check in facilities,namely at the immigration desk. I am also grateful to Air Mauritius for the upgrade in class.It is my feast day isn’t it!

So until my next blog…

Habitant de l’ile Maurice ayant vécu toute ma vie dans le créole, je ne peux pas rester sourd à l’appel que me fait Kréofolies 2007:la célébration du patrimoine créole.

Etant un créophone depuis ma naissance, et utilisant prioritairement le créole comme langage de communication vocale, nous mauriciens, avons le devoir de propager la langue et protéger notre culture. Je salue et félicite les organisateurs des 2 différentes Kréofolies qui rêvent une pan- créole et aurais souhaité une plus grande participation d’autres créophiles.

« Mauritius Bloggers » ayant pour objectif de fédérer l’ensemble des bloggers mauriciens devrait ainsi mentionner et promouvoir les travaux de Kréofolies. Ainsi donc, chers bloggers, maintenant que vous êtes avertis de l’existence de ce blog, je vous demande d’émettre des commentaires sur le blog de Kréofolies.

Pour la petite histoire: Ainsi tu es Kreophone! et  bien moi Harris je suis Grammophone…hic hic