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Agriculture and food security
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Media Weekly Update 2004-24
Monday June 14^th – Sunday June 20^th 2004

THE government media continued to parrot the authorities’ claims that Zimbabwe would this year have a bumper harvest due to the success of the government’s agrarian reforms, which the official media have repeatedly presented as receiving adequate financial and technical support. But such a glowing picture of the agricultural sector was dampened by private media reports on the new farmers’ concerns over government’s failure to meet their input demands, poor harvest projections for the current winter wheat crop and the confusion over government’s exact policy on nationalisation of land.

The government media glossed over such problems besetting the agricultural sector in an effort to portray government’s fast-track land reforms as the panacea to the country’s grain deficit. Their stories were thus premised on abstract projections calculated to inspire confidence amongst their audiences. For example, the Chronicle (14/6) reported approvingly of the disbursement of "more than $25 billion" to cereal growers by Agribank "in the past two weeks" to boost winter wheat cropping but did not question the wisdom of distributing the money about a month late considering that "cereal production starts in late April".

Neither did it give a breakdown of how the funds were distributed among the farmers or how many of them had benefited from the bank, which the paper reported, had been given the mandate by government "to act as key financier to farming activities under the land reforms".

Similarly, the paper unquestioningly reported that the parastatal Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) was poised to produce "a total of 3 345 tonnes of seed maize" from 5,810 hectares. There was no elaboration on how many tonnes of grain the country would realise from the seed. 

To reinforce its positive picture of the country’s agricultural sector, ZTV (16/6, 6pm and 17/6, 8pm) announced the arrival of "40 percent" of the heavy-duty agricultural equipment from Malaysia without explaining what the percentage figure represented in real terms.

Not to be outdone, The Herald (15/6) relied entirely on Agriculture Minister Joseph Made’s hopefulness that nearly 20,000 hectares of land would be cleared this year at the Nuanetsi Irrigation Project in Masvingo despite the paper’s own revelations that government had not yet even procured the machinery to open up the area for farming.

The private media did not express such optimism. The Financial Gazette (20/6) argued in its comment that the fact that government was still talking about inputs for winter crops at "this late hour should be cause for concern" and "should be blamed squarely on the government mistakes …mismanagement and lack of forward planning". The paper also noted that the "teething problems" plaguing land reform were neither improving the economic welfare of most of the ‘beneficiaries’ nor adding value to the national economy and therefore were likely to "spawn worse socio-economic difficulties than those experienced in the past". The paper contended that "given the government’s upside-down priorities where resources are not being channelled where they are needed most" then "detractors could just be vindicated if Zimbabwe once again fails to feed itself" despite the good rains it has received.

The Sunday Mirror (20/6) quoted resettled farmers and the leadership of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) expressing their concerns over government’s "moves in buying tractors and other farming equipment, particularly for ARDA, when (newly resettled) commercial farmers do not have the facilities". ZCFU president Davison Mugabe told the paper that although ARDA hired its equipment to farmers, it worked on its own farms first before hiring out the equipment and therefore had always tilled the farmers’ lands late. Said Mugabe: "This prejudices the farmer as (s)/ he does not achieve intended crop targets and usually loses out financially…"

Despite such revelations, which have negative underlying implications on the country’s food security, the authorities seemed unwilling to engage food aid agencies to stave off possible starvation. Studio 7 (15/6), SW Radio Africa (16/6) and The Daily Mirror (16/6), for example, reported that a meeting between government and UN humanitarian affairs envoy and World Food Programme chief James Morris had been called off after being told that no government official would be available to meet him. Morris was reportedly expected in the country for discussions with government about the country’s food and humanitarian assistance.

The Daily Mirror quoted permanent secretary in the Information Ministry George Charamba saying, "there was no likelihood of another meeting being held soon." Other unnamed sources quoted in the story revealed that government had little interest in meeting Morris as they feel "the issue he intends to bring up for discussion – food aid – is a dead letter."

However, not all ZANU PF members agreed with government’s bumper harvest forecasts.

The Standard (20/6) quoted ZANU PF Central Committee member Titus Mukungulushi Chauke describing recent claims by President Mugabe and his government that Zimbabwe would have surplus food as "irresponsible and utter rubbish". According to Chauke, hundreds of thousands of people in areas like Chiredzi, Chivi, Mwenezi and Zaka were still buying food because they did not grow enough for their needs.

Meanwhile, the public remained confused about government’s exact land nationalisation policy after The Herald (15/6) and Power FM (15/6, 1pm) reported Information Minister Jonathan Moyo as reversing a recent proclamation by Lands Minister John Nkomo that government intended nationalising all productive farmland. Moyo’s announcement alleged that, "there has not been any change of government policy or law in respect of land tenure and ownership", adding that only "…land acquired under the fast-track and current phase of the land reforms automatically reverts to the State".

But The Financial Gazette viewed Moyo’s statement as a major retreat by government after a "flurry" of criticism on the constitutionality of the land nationalization plan. Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku told the paper that government’s "latest flip-flop is a sign of confusion and carelessness". SW Radio Africa (15/6) quoted Justice for Agriculture official John Worsely-Worsick offering similar views.

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