The Rural Voice, 1979-05, Page 25The Voice of A Farmer
top and bottom.
They raise pigs and chickens, but these animals compete for
food with the human population.
Who will eat this meat and those eggs? The farmer and his
family will, but most will go to the rich who can afford it or can
keep it from spoilage. But the poor need this protein too, for the
wildlife has been hunted out a long time ago.
I want to repeat what I said at the beginning. We don't realize
how fortunate we are to live in Canada. But what do we do? We
whine.
Pierre Trudeau was wrong to single out the farmers as
whiners. Our whole society whines. We whine because of prices;
of subsidy programs; of the weather; of over -production.
Labour whines over wages; about fringe benefits; about
eroding pensions; about working conditions; about coffeebreak
times; about cost -of -living.
Middle income earners whine about taxes; about their
hallowed cottages; about their powerboats; about costs of
holidays abroad; about their investments.
Businessmen whine about slow rising profits; about high
taxes; about tariffs; about government interference.
Environmentalists whine about foul air; about chemicals in the
environment; about polluted rivers; about nuclear energy; about
food additives.
Investors whine about capital gains taxes; about financial
policies of governments; about the cost of pollution clean-up;
about inflation.
Artists whine about the cutting of grants; about diminishing
support for theatres.
And everyone whines about the government who are to blame
for the mess we are in.
But let's compare with the people in a country like Ghana, ane
be damn grateful.
by Adrian Vos
Let's be grateful for a change
When Dr. Bruce Hunter spoke to the Turnberry and the East
Wawanosh Federations of Agriculture about Ghana, it was
brought home how fortunate we, as western farmers are, to live
in a country like Canada.
Because of an almost complete lack of transportation, rarmers
there produce generally only enough to feed their own family and
a little surplus for clothing. There is none left over for recreation
or entertainment; there is none left for insurance; there is none
left, period.
The children are the old age pension.
There are, of course, the rich and the poor. The families of the
various tribal chiefs own all the land. The lesser people pay the
chiefs for the use of it.
There is absolutely no incentive to improve the land, for then
the chief will probably allot it to a more favoured friend or
relative.
The farmer is also a continuous pioneer. After two or three
years, the soil is exhausted and left, to be overgrown with the
jungle to produce new green -fertilizing plant growth. The farmer
takes his machete, his only tool, and starts all over again. He
slashes, and burns the slash to produce ashes for fertilizer.
Much of the soil is hard clay. He takes his machete and works
the ground loose. His yam hills are over two feet high. Imagine
how cruel this work is in the worst, most humid, tropical climate
in the world.
Who can blame him when he leaves for the city at the first
opportunity?
Western peoples, among them Canada's AID, have tried to
give them better equipment. such as tractors. They have good
mechanics, but what can they do if they don't have the parts.
What can they do if they don't have the tools to repair a tire?
Even if they had all that, what can they do with their produce if
there is no transportation to the market?
They need better fertilizer, so a concerned nation sends them a
shipload. But the bags can't withstand the humid climate very
long and they rot away, leaving the fertilizer uselessly on the
ground somewhere.
The odd amount that gets in place was broadcast by hand. The
most efficient tool the group of Dr. Hunter gave them was a pail
with a hole in the bottom, to distribute the fertilizer evenly and
without waste.
Those are obviously the tools they need. A good spade; a hoe;
a hand Sheller and similar simple hand tools. That would lighten
their inhuman burden.
Teach them to read and write, so they can learn how others do
things. Now only the rich can go to the elementary schools, the
poor can't afford to. They all can go to university, for that's free.
But how to get through that first barrier? Dr. Hunter called it,
"Welfare for the rich."
They are not stupid, those farmers; they just don't have the
opportunity that we have.
They have sealed silos that protect their grain from insects and
vermin. Did our air -tight silo engineers get the idea from them?
Theirs cost a lot less. They build them out of mud, with cement
VANASTRA
FACTORY
OUTLET
Highway 4- $outh,ofGlnton at Vanastra
"The Store That Saves You More"
• MENS' • BOYS' • LADIES'
• GIRLS' • BABY WEAR • YARD
GOODS • SEWING MACHINES
• POUND GOODS • GROCERIES
NEW STORE HOURS:
Monday -Friday 10 a.m.-9p.m.
Saturday 10a.m.-6p.m.
Sunday 12 noon-6p.m.
THE RURAL VOICE/MAY 1979 PG. 23