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The JAG Trust Comment on World Bank Report No. 3199 ZW - Covering letter
Justice for Agriculture (JAG) Zimbabwe
June 20, 2005

Read the JAG review of the World Bank Report No 3199 ZW

TO THE DIPLOMATIC COMMUNITY, DONOR COUNTRIES, ALL CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS AND ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN ZIMBABWE

The local office of New York based World Bank gave JAG a copy of AGRICULTURE GROWTH AND LAND REFORM IN ZIMBABWE: ASSESSMENT AND RECOVERY OPTIONS, (World Bank Report No 3199 ZW).

The World Bank requested that we study this document and return to them our verbal and written response. Our response is attached to this covering letter.

As a membership driven organization, The Justice for Agriculture Trust
(JAG) and Justice for Agriculture members association(JAGMA) Committees were unanimous that members, supporters and other stakeholders have a right to know how we responded to this document, on their behalf. Indeed, we contend that the issues raised and dealt with in this document are of National importance, requiring open and transparent National debate.

The JAG Trust acknowledges that the Report Number 3199-ZW is the property of World Bank and therefore we cannot quote directly from the report or release it.

Overall The JAG Trust was extremely alarmed and disappointed by the unconstructive negativity communicated throughout this document. This Document is in our view, a thoughtfully disguised and refined, tacit acceptance of the results emanating from the Fast Tract Land Reform Policy. As far as we are aware, there was no local stakeholder consultation prior to the compilation of this report, only subsequently.

The Document has been prepared and presented in a highly professional manner by highly professional people, but very obviously the wrong people. This report purports to be an agricultural document, but it is not. It is, in the main, a summary of the dire conditions in which the rural agricultural population now find themselves in as a result of the Government's politically inspired destruction of Commercial Agriculture through misguided policies.

The main thrust of this report is to continue with and refine the "Fast Track Land Reform Programme" in the hope that at end of the day a stable productive agriculture sector will emerge. This is highly idealistic, with no chance of being successful on the ground, in the real world and in the obvious absence of security of tenure. Commercial Farmer and Farm Workers skills have been specifically excluded in the report.

This report has all the hallmarks of the social scientists and technocrats approach to the land problem. To have relevance and credibility this report should have included the opinions and conclusions of economists, ecologists, agronomists, management and marketing experts, and not least, commercial farmers and farm worker organizations. We respectfully contend that there was nothing wrong with the structure or performance of Large Scale Commercial Agriculture, as it was under the existent, tried and tested tenure system of Free Hold Title, other than; the obvious and unjust racial imbalance.

We further suggest that the quickest way to alleviate the tragic plight of the displaced farmers and farm workers, would be to create conditions where commercial agriculture is reinstated, through the return to the rule of law and respect for property rights, wherein the farm workers can exchange a fair days work for a fair days pay. Thereby benefiting from the social wage element that goes with employment in a commercial agricultural business.

It is JAG'S sincere hope that World Report Number 3199 ZW, will be withdrawn and a fresh report compiled with meaningful stakeholder participation at all levels and at the outset.

Yours Sincerely,

Eric Harrison
Chairman
The Justice for Agriculture Trust (JAG)

Ronnie Saul
Chairman
The Justice for Agriculture Association (JAGMA)

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