Clive Bibby: Solutions for dummies

Another update from the coalface. Farming in a hostile environment is difficult when your support is deliberately withheld or drip fed to those who can make the best use of it.

Strange tactics from those who could make a huge difference.

Why is it that politicians don’t get it.
For years now, even as far back as a time when Cyclone Bola temporarily destroyed much of the local farming landscape, the locals have known what needs to happen to this region in order get the best out of the most productive land and what to do with the remainder so that we operate in an environment that is the perfect mix of intensive agriculture and permanently retired areas.

Those that live here and depend on the productive capacity of our best land for our survival should have learned that some past farming practices are incompatible with an environment that requires protection from those same operations that, if continued, will end up destroying itself.

So, what is needed is for those who have overseen past policies - the ones that have exposed the fragile natural habitat to the ravages of climate change - to own up to their part in what has become a continuation of destructive events.

Politicians particularly need to genuinely engage with those who have the experience of what works and what doesn’t in order to find a way were we can all peacefully coexist and rebuild our economy into something that will handsomely support this region for years to come.

We can do this but only if everyone involved in the reconstruction is prepared to acknowledge the existence of other equally dependent groups of people who want to share what we have and what we can become It will take more than a couple of visits from those who usually inhabit the beltway, promising to spend more money on practices that are outmoded or will only exacerbate the problem.

We need a large dollop of humble admission that they are the ones who have to change more than any other.

Yet, I suppose, unsurprisingly, the current model of politician is not built for this type of new environment and appears unwilling to either undergo the much needed facelift that will make them fit for purpose or face the knackers yard.

Because the people of Tairawhiti deserve better and will not emerge from this current hell hole with any hope of better days if the people who can make it happen can’t accept that the changes we need don’t always have their gestation period in Wellington.

The solutions that will succeed are home grown and we can point to where they have been successfully employed.

Is it too much to ask that the politicians of whatever colour - if they aren’t prepared to give us what we want or need - simply get out of the way and let us get on with it.

And might I suggest that local Government also listens much more to those at the coalface before it rushes off trying to be all things to all men and women.

We don’t ask for much but do insist that we are not ignored. We have shown a capability of being the most important ingredient in a solution that works.

In the words of the founder of the Dilmah tea brand - “do try it!”

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.