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Worst agricultural year since Independence
Augustine Mukaro, The Independent (Zimbabwe)
January 05, 2007

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=9680

BLUNDERS continued to haunt the agricultural sector with 2006 going down as the worst year since Independence, throwing into disarray all government prospects of a quick fix to the agricultural sector and the economy at large.

Analysts said developments that dealt a severe blow to government efforts to boost production included legislative changes that removed the authority of the courts and the continued farm invasions that created uncertainty for investors.

The situation became untenable following the recent importation of substandard fertiliser, grabbing of farming implements by top government officials at the expense of ordinary farmers, power blackouts and the late planting of both summer and winter crops.

"Nationally, agricultural output has predictably declined further relegating government efforts to a national joke," one agricultural expert said.

"The major constraint to increased productivity was the uncertainty of tenure in the agricultural sector where farmers are evicted on a daily basis. Continued acquisition notices, disruptions, acts of violence on farms and lack of land-based collateral are some of the problems farmers face."

Government issued 99-year leases to selected farmers last month with the conviction that they would be used as collateral. The leases are still to be accepted as collateral by banks and other financial institutions. Banks still have to come to terms with enormous losses they incurred when government arbitrarily evicted farmers who owed them millions in unpaid agricultural loans.

Farming experts said continued amendments to the Land Acquisition Act contributed immensely to the confusion in the agricultural sector and would accelerate the collapse of agriculture as even the farm invaders become vulnerable to evictions. The amendment, experts say, will further scare away investors in the agro-processing industry and the agro-forestry sectors that are capital-intensive.

"It is extremely alarming to note that Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act, was passed," experts said.

The Act repeals the Rural Land Occupiers (Protection from Eviction) Act and prohibits the contest of all land gazetted for acquisition since 2000 in court.

"If the objective of the authorities, by introducing such draconian legislation, is to get agriculture back to work they are wrong," the experts said. "It is likely to increase the conflict of ownership of the business on the land and reduce meaningful investment in agriculture."

The Act makes it illegal and "punishable by law to hold, use or occupy a piece of land that was gazetted for resettlement purposes without authority in the form of an offer letter".

This means that no one will claim protection under the Act any longer. The new Bill is a double-edge sword meant to cow commercial farmers from resisting eviction while empowering government to dislodge trespassers without offer letters as the tragedy of the inconclusive land reform unfolds.

The Rural Land Occupiers Act (Protection from Eviction) Act was railroaded as a populist expedient after armed soldiers and police forced more than 600 families to leave Little England Farm in Mashonaland West by torching their homes, because the land had reportedly been earmarked for A2 farmer, mostly officials from the President's Office.

Instead of building on the confidence that appeared to be gradually welling following six years of serious recession, government officials plunged the sector into an unheralded fertiliser scandal.

To show the magnitude of the substandard fertiliser import saga, government was forced to fire Agriculture permanent secretary Simon Pazvakavambwa.

Between 160 and 800 tonnes of substandard fertiliser were imported, prejudicing the country of up to US$300 000.

As if the past blunders are not lesson enough, government is on the verge of importing substandard wheat classified as BS1 and BS2 grades, which experts said was low quality wheat, only suitable for stockfeeds.

Experts said wheat for human consumption should not contain any germinated grain and should have a density of around 75% and a protein content of around 14%.

Once there is germinated grain, that wheat should be recommended for stockfeed. The wheat that was acquired through Intshona and due to get into the country at the end of the month has a 5% germinated grain.

The chaotic land reform programme, which has been condemned from inception by international donors, including the UNDP, as unworkable and a recipe for disaster, has turned out to be just that.

Over the past four seasons production in all facets of agriculture has plummeted, dragging the economy down with it.

Six committees were appointed to audit achievements of the land reform programme but facts on the ground show that agriculture has been completely ruined by the land reform, which was characterised by widespread violence and grabbing of farms by army officers, policemen, state-journalists and judges in addition to ruling-party politicians.

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