Peanuts aren't just Peanuts after all!

The supports of our nation are buckling, and as part of those supports, as a groundnut farmer, I see impending collapse. The groundnut industry is in a crisis that is having devastating economic and humanitarian effects on our nation of Senegal. For the good of me, millions of other farmers, and the collective well-being of our country, I demand that you, the Senegalese National Assembly, take immediate measures to diversify our agricultural sector by working to eliminate our dependence the groundnut now.
So, consider the implications. 50% of our working population is employed in the business of growing groundnuts, and this enterprise is in state of exigency. This government has slashed agricultural subsidies for groundnut growers at the whims of the IMF and European Union, and abandoned its farmers. Consequently, our use of fertilizer for groundnuts has declined from 45,000 tons in 1997/1998, to 25,000 tons in 2001/2002 with an according drop in productivity. Adding fuel to the inferno, we have for decades witnessed our crops be decimated by chronic droughts, and this pattern continues. How can we sell our nuts at prices as low as the subsidized American groundnuts and still procure enough money to eat? We cannot. Just look to the rural poverty rate of 85%; the national average is 54%. Let not these numbers whisk past your mind as mere numbers, for that they are not. They are people, people like myself, people like my family, and people like you, except for their endless toils give them not the reward of a pleasant life, nor even a life where subsisting is remotely easy. As moral leaders, is it not imperative that you not overlook the supports that hold up the roof of our collective, national hut: the farmers of our dear Senegal?
It is imperative. It is so imperative that we must take permanent action now. Our nation's economy must be diversified. First, we must educate and support these rural farmers in growing millet, sorghum, and barley, crops that will provide our population with proper nutrition and be more resistant to droughts that have become commonplace. Second, the government's informal and fatuous policy of encouraging the growing of groundnuts must halt.
If you realize your duties of leadership, then you will support these actions and a new power will be born out of post-colonial West Africa. Our ability to grow staple crops here will create a self-sufficient Senegal that will be freed from the manacles of world food price fluctuations.
And so, I beseech you to take action now, ici, aujourd'hui! Unite to write and pass legislation which educates and assists farmers to make the transition away from groundnut production to a sustainable future.