Etcetera II

In the week since I commented on the very disappointing Molepolole Show in last week's Monitor, it was decided by the Ministry that, with the outbreak of the Rift Valley Disease, it had felt it necessary to cancel this year's Gaborone Agricultural Show. Even though livestock are bound to be the centrepiece of such Shows and organising one without them would inevitably deprive it of a major attraction, the Ministry's decision remains surprising.

A feature of the last couple of years has been the priority given by the government, and other agencies such as the Brewery, to agriculture and to youth, both of which have been handsomely funded. When an Agricultural Show is deprived of one of its major components, as is now the case, an opportunity is immediately created for others to fill that gap and to promote their wares without, for once, being overshadowed by more exotic products and producers.