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Agriculture and food security
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Extracted from Weekly Media Update 2007-34
Monday August 27th - Sunday September 2nd 2007
September 06, 2007

The government media used the Harare Agricultural Show to gloss over problems facing the agricultural sector. None of their 138 stories on the show and related issues (ZBC [79], government papers [59]) gave a holistic picture of Zimbabwe's precarious food security. For example, the official media limited themselves to carrying feel-good stories on the show by presenting it as a success, saying its accomplishment heralded the revival of the agricultural sector.

How this was so was not rationally explained. For instance, while the media claimed this year's show was better than previous editions, there was no comparative analysis to prove this; there was no information about the quality of the exhibits or the volumes of business clinched. They simplistically used the increase in the number of people attending the show and increases in livestock exhibitors as evidence that the agricultural sector was recovering. The government media also failed to match these optimistic reports with other piecemeal stories they carried indicating agricultural decline. For instance, The Herald (27/8) did not reconcile the alleged positive outlook of the agricultural sector with its revelations that three fertilizer companies had closed due to persistent power cuts and shortages of raw materials.

In addition, the official media carried stories about the increasingly precarious food situation without exploring their causes. These included reports on widespread shortages of bread and grain. Rather than reporting the causes of these problems openly, they simply portrayed government as working hard to address them. For example Radio Zimbabwe (30/8, 1PM) merely reported that people in Matabeleland South were "going for days without meals" without asking why. Similarly, the Sunday News (2/9) reported that "a potentially disastrous" situation in boarding schools had been averted after government entered an agreement with manufacturing companies to supply commodities to schools before they opened for the third term.

While the sourcing pattern of the government media appeared balanced, coverage of the topic remained superficial (See Fig 3). For example, most of the alternative voices recorded by these media were from the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society.

Fig 5: Voice distribution on ZBC

Fig 6: Voice distribution in the government Press

A critical examination of Zimbabwe's agricultural problems only found space in the private media. They carried 25 stories on the issue, 16 of which were carried by the electronic media and nine in the Press. The reports highlighted the deteriorating standards at the show, and diminished food production and availability, which they blamed on government's poor policies. The Zimbabwe Independent and Studio 7 (31/8), questioned the relevance of the show considering the plummeting agricultural production, noting that the exhibition was now a "shadow of its former self". In fact, the Zimbabwe Times (31/8) reported that government had stopped livestock auctioning at the agricultural showcase because it "feared" that the prices would "end up being higher than those CSC was buying at". The Independent also reported this news.

In addition, the private media established the controversial criteria government was using to re-register private abattoirs, especially those owned by whites. ZimOnline (30/8) and the Zimbabwe Times (31/8) reported that government was re-registering white-owned slaughterhouses only on condition that "they surrender 50% of their shares to black indigenous people". They quoted Industry Minister Obert Mpofu justifying the government decision, saying the country could "not allow whites to have full control of such companies since they can sabotage the country at any moment."

Contrary to official media claims that government had intervened to avert widespread hunger in schools, The Standard (2/8) maintained that most could not guarantee enough food for students due to "continuing shortages of basic commodities".

Fig 7: Voice Distribution in the private electronic media

Fig 8: Voice distribution in the private press

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