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South Africa appoints task team to help Zim agriculture sector
Tichaona Sibanda, SW Radio Africa
September 18, 2008

http://www.swradioafrica.com/News180908/Agri180908.htm

The South African government has appointed a special task team to develop an emergency intervention plan to help with the recovery of the country's crisis-ridden agricultural sector.

During the power-sharing signing ceremony in Harare on Monday, President Thabo Mbeki pledged his country would provide immediate assistance with the much needed farming inputs in preparation for the forthcoming season.

Themba Maseko, spokesman for the South African government said the task team will be led by the Departments of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and the National Treasury, in collaboration with other Southern African Development Community countries.

Until 2000, agriculture was the backbone of the country's economy but the results of the post 2000 land reform programme have been disastrous. Prior to the land redistribution effort, Zimbabwe's farmers produced enough food for both national consumption and export.

However, the reforms saw most of the land go to undeserving ZANU PF recipients, and those who had little knowledge of how to run the farms efficiently or raise productivity.

Furthermore, the refusal of banks to lend money to these 'A2 farmers' limited their ability to purchase equipment or otherwise raise capital. As a result the drop in total farm output has been catastrophic, and has generated widespread reports by aid agencies of starvation and famine.

What is not in dispute, is that the country that was once so rich in agricultural produce that it was dubbed the 'bread basket' of Southern Africa is now struggling to feed its own population.

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