On the Occasion of the World Food Day 2011, the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security organised an exhibition and sale of agricultural products from 14th to16th October at the SSR Botanic Garden, Pamplemousses. Present were all the stakeholders in the sector, including Ministries, the private sector, producers, farmers, entrepreneurs, women organizations, Faculty of Agriculture of the University if Mauritius, NGOs, Banks and other support organizations. The Opening Ceremony was held on the 14th October and the exhibition was open to the public on the following two days.

Hon. Satish Faugoo at the Opening Ceremony of World Food Day 2011

The Minister started his speech by recalling that last year the World Food Day exhibition was held at the same place and which had successfully attracted more than 65 000 visitors to the SSR Botanic Garden. He also emphasised that this event has also been a good way of promoting the SSR Botanic Garden, a symbolic place where in the past, plant species from all over the world were brought for research and also the memorial of the father of the Nation, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam is found in the garden.
The Minister then talked a bit about FAO and when we started to celebrate the World Food Day. He mentioned about the fact that agricultural production, poverty and hunger are inter-related issues and the World Food Day is becoming more and more important because it provides a platform where all the stakeholders involved can reflect and discuss the issues of food security, design strategies and find solutions. Coming to the World Food Day theme which is “Food Prices – From Crisis to Stability”, Hon. Satish Faugoo claimed that Mauritius is facing problems regarding food security as we are not producing enough food locally and relying highly on imports. He gave some figures for the import of milk products and cereals, for which the amount which we are importing has increased from last year. Mauritius is importing 70% of the food that we consume, with an annual import bill exceeding Rs 25 Billion. Our climate is not appropriate for commodities like wheat, apple or orange and for some items like maize, it is more profitable to import than to produce locally. But according to the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, even if is is expensive to produce locally, we should not rely solely on import, but have to produce even if it is at a small scale.
With respect to this problem, the Government of Mauritius has been proactive and in 2007 decided to invest in agriculture through the Food Security Fund. Different schemes have been designed and implemented to address the problem of food insecurity in the country. The aim of the Food Security Fund is to have entrepreneurs instead of smallholder farmers, by giving them land through the Sugar Investment Trust and also providing them with technical support and capacity building. According to the Minister, all problems are related to one another and what is needed is to work in collaboration. Agricultural production is linked to health (diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc.). What we need is a change in policy, change in mindset and way of doing things. With this strategy, the positive changes that has been seen for the past years are that Mauritius has now become self sufficient in vegetable and chicken production. We are producing 230 million eggs and 20 000 tonnes of potatoes (in which we will attain self-sufficiency very soon). Local milk production was 2% in 2003 and has reached 12% presently, with a production of 12 million litres a year. Loans of Rs 50,000 per head (with 5% interest) have been given to breeders so as to increase milk production locally. In the pig sector, pig breeders have been given loans of Rs 400,000 and today even after the problem of the swine fever, we have 18 000 heads. Moreover, since the tourism sector is also one of the pillars of our economy, we are also concerned with QUALITY. “We are all concerned with food security, and if we have been able to do these in the past 3 years, why can’t we do it in the future?”, asked the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security to the audience. He ended his speech by thanking all the farmers and stressed the fact that we also have to link agriculture to the environment and hence practice sustainable agriculture for a sustainable future!
With this, the World Food Day Exhibition and Sale was declared open and the inauguration was done by the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security. He visited some of the stands and left at 17:45.


Day 2 and 3: World Food Day Exhibition and sale
The event was promoted on the  National TV, radio stations, newspapers and banners were present on some round-about leading to the SSR Botanic Garden. There were more than 90 participants in this exhibition and the public had a lot to discover: Flowers, Food in all its form (cooked food, ice-cream, yoghurt, vegetables, fruits, new research on some promising crops, processed food like sausages, burgers etc.), farm animals (Day-old chicks and ducks, goat, sheep etc.), research organisations, banks and support organisations for farmers, gardening tools, farm machineries, agro-chemical suppliers (fertilisers, pesticides, seeds etc.), animal feed suppliers, NGOs working in the field of agriculture, private companies in the industry…
In short, all the components of the Agro-Industry was present in the exhibition and there was a lot for the public to discover. At 10 o’clock itself, crowds of people were beginning to fill the different stands. All of them were interesting and had some information to convey to the visitors, but there are some which caught the attention of many Mauritians:


Sale of day-old Chicks and ducks

Day-old chicks for sale

Day-old chicks were being sold at Rs 20 each and this attracted many visitors, especially youth and children.


Sale of “Hanging basket” and compost

Lettuce growing in the “Hanging Basket”

It is now possible to grow crops even if we do not have some some space or a kitchen garden! The basket was being sold at Rs 40 and Rs 60. At the same stand, we could find compost and plant-lets being sold, which attracted many people.


Sale of flowers and ornamentals

Flowers at one of the stands

Cactus plants on sale

It is a fact that Mauritians are not really attracted to agriculture as a career, but they certainly love flowers and ornamentals. Most of the visitors had them in their hands when going back home!


Sale of the cane juice called “Fangourin”

Squeezing the sugar-cane to get Fangourin

Ever tasted the cane juice, “Fangourin”? Well, Mauritians as well as tourists who visited the exhibition got the opportunity to buy and taste it!