Lentils

Understanding
Of Nature
Of soils and of need
Seem to go out the window
When it comes down to feed

The people thats when ofcourse
Genetics is played
Thats the card of the moment
Where profits are laid

Fairly and squarely
Into the ring
Pearls of the earth
The familiar ring

Of money and purpose
And making it flow
Among poorer nations
That still have to grow

To develop technologies
Favouring those
Who want to make money
And everyone knows

Splicing the genomes
Is big business and now
The likes of Monsanto
Have showed us all how

In Ethiopia lentils are eaten
They represent value
Alongside the wheaten
Flat breads of old
Nutritious and good
But growing them
Really is not how they should

Rust was a problem for farmers
We hear
They could lose half their crops
In any one year
And so BASF came up with the plan
To genetically modify
So they began

In Gimbichu to use this
Clear field strain
It grows like the clappers
Its called el amain

It isnt susceptible
to damp and so
It high yielding properties
Is why they grow

One women Demekech Tekleyohannis
Started and she
Showed the new yellow lentil
Was good to be

And this lone women
Has manAged the crop
She now has a home
And we hear is the top

Grower around buying oxen
Is she
To help her plough
And much better she be

She says can a poor man buy a plane
Not at all
Which is why she is sure
That she is on the ball