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Agriculture
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2006-46
Monday November 13^th 2006 – Sunday November 19^th 2006

THE government media carried 57 stories on agricultural issues during the week: ZBH (35) and government papers (22). However, none of them gave a holistic picture of the agricultural difficulties facing the country as they largely painted a picture of normalcy in the sector while censoring information showing otherwise. For example, 18 of the stories the official papers carried on agriculture glossed over the problems bedevilling the sector while only four highlighted them. It was against this background that the government media just ended up endorsing almost every government interventionist move in the sector without question.

For instance, there was no attempt to give an informed analysis on the fairness and logistics of government’s importation and distribution of agricultural equipment worth US$25m under the "Revolution in Agriculture Mechanisation" programme, and the arrival of part of the of the 200 000 tonnes of fertiliser from China. Instead, The Herald and Chronicle (16/11) seemed more interested in celebrating the fertiliser’s shipment on the basis that it signalled the first delivery of aid the Asian country had promised Africa during the Sino-Africa summit earlier this month. Moreover, the papers paraded the development as reflecting the success of government’s Look East policy. Consequently, there was no verification on the suitability of the fertiliser and whether it would satisfy national needs.

Besides, there was no attempt to reconcile the authorities’ attempts to sanitise the situation in the agricultural sector with their few reports on the projected low wheat yields, shortage of inputs and farming equipment. Spot FM (14/11,8pm), for example, just noted: "Prospects for a wheat bumper harvest could be dealt a blow as farmers battle to secure combine harvesters in an attempt to save their crops from the rains…" Otherwise, the broadcaster was awash with ministerial pronouncements - some of which did not even qualify as news - such as the one inviting "farmers wishing to join Operation Maguta/Inala…to approach the AREX offices for application forms" (Spot FM, 16/11,8am).

The government media’s voice sourcing pattern is shown in Fig 1 and 2. Although ZBH’s sourcing seemed diverse, the broadcaster’s coverage of the issues remained piecemeal.

Fig. 1 Voice Distribution on ZBH

Fig. 2 Voice distribution in government Press

Except for the five stories that appeared in the Mirror stable, which took the official media stance, the rest of the other 19 stories the private media carried (private electronic media [eight] and private papers [11]) continued to question government’s seriousness in reviving farming. For example, the Gazette did not find anything amusing about the government conducting "yet another land audit" on land utilisation and take-up, to be completed by the end of the month. It wondered whether the audit would make any difference as similar exercises – whose findings "have gathered dust in government offices" – have not been used to address the farming problems.

The paper and the Independent also criticized government’s chaotic planning, seen as the reason behind the country’s recent importation of low quality fertiliser from South Africa. Noted the Independent: "The fertilizer saga is an apt reference to the fact that agriculture will not recover through piecemeal (central bank) interventions and public posturing but by ensuring that there is a holistic plan that ensures that all support industries are functioning". In fact, NewZim.com (15/11) reported that hunger was still stalking the country with aid agencies still "feeding hungry Zimbabweans after appeals from government". Despite this, however, it revealed (16/11) that the WFP had decided to "scale back food distribution…to 1. 4 million Zimbabweans" due to donor fatigue, a development MDC officials Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube said would have "tragic consequences".

Although the private papers quoted more official voices as shown in Fig 3, they tried to balance their comments with other sources outside government.

Fig 3.Voices distribution in private press

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