Back to Index

Mugabe pushes for Stalinist-style land reforms
ZimOnline
December 07, 2005

http://www.zimonline.co.za/headdetail.asp?ID=11223

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday told Zimbabwe's Parliament that his government is embarking on a new Stalinist-style command agriculture programme to boost farm output and end food shortages gripping the country for the past five years.

The programme, first mentioned by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono several months ago, would see selected farms required to produce specific quantities of strategic crops such as maize, wheat and tobacco.

Mugabe said the new Operation Food Security (also known in vernacular languages as Operation Maguta/Inala) would see at least 300 000 hectares of irrigated land to produce the main staple maize while communities would be mobilised to produce several more crops to ensure Zimbabwe is once again able to feed itself as well as export excess food.

In a 35-minute long state of the nation address to Parliament, Mugabe said: "To enhance agricultural production and meet national requirements of 1.8 million metric tonnes of cereals, targeted production has been introduced through Operation Food Security/Maguta/ Inala by government.

"The major objectives of the programme are to boost the country's food security and consolidate national strategic (food) reserves. Further, government's strategy to ensure food security and surplus for export (includes having) at least 300 000 hectares of maize put under irrigation."

Zimbabwe has grappled hunger since 2000 after Mugabe's controversial seizure of productive farmland from whites for redistribution to blacks destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector, knocking food output down by about 60 percent.

For example, an estimated four million of the 12 million Zimbabweans require more than a million tonnes of food aid between now and the next harvest around March/April 2006 or they will starve.

But sceptical agricultural experts have warned that command agriculture is not the solution to Zimbabwe's food problems, saying the cash-strapped government did not have the financial resources or skills to successfully manage crop fields across the country.

Mugabe - who denies his land reforms caused hunger in Zimbabwe - is better served stopping a fresh wave of farm invasions by his supporters that is disrupting farming operations on the few large-scale producing farms still in white hands, the experts say.

The veteran President should also ensure that his government provides inputs and skills training for black villagers resettled on former white farms so that they could produce food for the country, they said.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's bickering main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, in a surprise show of unity from the party lately, boycotted Mugabe's address in Parliament.

A spokesman for the MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said the action was a symbolic gesture to show that the party did not condone Mugabe's controversial management of Zimbabwe.

Chamisa said: "We could not attend as Mugabe is a disputed leader of Zimbabwe. He has been making fatal decisions for Zimbabweans such as the re-introduction of the Senate which milks out the already over burdened taxpayer. We could not associate with the dictator while the populace is wallowing in abject poverty." - ZimOnline

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP