Tomato embargo hits farmers hard
Thursday, December 15, 2016
The restrictions came following the detection of tomato leaf miner or Tuta absoluta, which is described as a highly destructive insect pest to tomato plants and fruit and is also reported to infest other plants in the Solanacaeae family such as potato, pepper and eggplant.
As a result of the ban, traders are not allowed to move solanaceous crops from the tomato leaf miner infested areas, which are Bobirwa, Boteti, Chobe, North East, and North West.
Speaker of the National Assembly, Dithapelo Keorapetse, has this week rightly washed his hands of the mess, refusing to wade into a party squabble that has no clear leadership and no single version of the truth.When a single party sends six different letters to the Speaker’s office, each claiming to be the authoritative voice, it is not just confusion, but an embarrassment.Keorapetse is correct to insist on institutional boundaries. Parliament...