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A few home truths won't hurt cry baby farmers
Mavis Makuni, The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
May 04, 2006

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=1059

RESERVE Bank Governor Gideon Gono seems to be the only public official who is honest enough to consistently dish out "tough love" as the only way to tackle some of the country's self-inflicted troubles and crises.

Not long ago, the Central Bank boss violated a long standing taboo by pointing fingers of accusation at the establishment for the rampant corruption that has changed the way virtually everything is done in Zimbabwe. He wiped the smug look off the faces of most chefs when he declared that most of them were guilty of corrupt activities and dealings particularly with regard to the distribution of fuel and farm inputs. "If as a country we do not resolutely stamp out growing corruption, especially among us people in positions of authority and influence, us the so-called chefs, if we do not stamp out the indiscipline in our midst, we will soon discover too late that policy formulations . . . have been (based) on self-interest at the expense of the national good", the governor declared in March while presenting his monetary policy review.

Gono had previously been equally candid when he railed against farm invasions that continued to take place long after the government had declared the land reform programme completed. He described the invaders as saboteurs. Now, in an equally brutally frank statement, the governor has slammed some new tobacco farmers who have failed to make the grade for demanding to be perpetually mollycoddled through the provision of "infinite subsidies". The governor made his remarks after the farmers had complained about the inadequacy of the RBZ's 35 percent early delivery bonus.

He said these farmers, particularly "low-yield marginal farmers" tended to shout the loudest and it was time to tell them some hard truths, including the fact that they should only grow crops they are best qualified to grow.

Gono's is always like a voice in the wilderness and the situation is rendered more ironic when it is considered that he has to shout himself hoarse to deal with a mess created by other people who have conveniently fallen silent. The problems being faced with regard to the quality of tobacco being delivered to the auction floors is a by-product of the haphazard and chaotic manner in which the land reform programme was implemented.

Failure to differentiate between populist rhetoric and the practicalities of agricultural production resulted in hundreds of thousands of people becoming "instant farmers" regardless of whether or not they had the foggiest idea about what was involved in commercial agriculture. It has slowly become abundantly clear that even with the best revolutionary intentions in the world, a person who has no aptitude for farming and the wherewithal to undertake it cannot, with his or her bare hands, produce crops of acceptable quality and adequate quantities. These are some of the issues that were overlooked in the implementation of the land redistribution exercise and now that they can no longer be concealed or attributed to scapegoats they should be revisited and addressed honestly.

It is a matter of record however, that anyone who tried to draw attention to these oversights and omissions at the height of the land acquisition programme was accused of being an enemy of the state and an opponent of an exercise which sought to correct historical injustices and empower the black people. But empowerment is totally meaningless and misplaced if, as Gono has indicated, the beneficiaries of a dispensation that is supposed to make them productive and economically independent, become "cry babies" who cannot be weaned from the fiscal breast. It means ultimately, that taxpayers and consumers who are preached to endlessly about the glories of land reform are forced to foot the bill for the ineptitude and non-productivity of these "farmers."

If people in government are honest, they should admit that no one, not even the British government, has ever opposed land redistribution per se. Most critics have only expressed reservations over the violent methodology used, which did not allow for adequate forward planning to eliminate most of the snags that have bogged down the entirely justifiable initiative, triggering an economic crisis that now seems insurmountable. When commercial agricultural land was in the hands of white commercial farmers, Zimbabwean tobacco was highly priced and in great demand on the international market. But even at this time when the crop earned the country most of its foreign currency, not all the 4 000 commercial farmers were experts in growing tobacco. Today, we are told there are 30 000 new tobacco producers. The authorities must accept that while this free-for-all approach may have been politically expedient, it has been disastrous in terms of production. It has been a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth with the result that where before perhaps one farmer delivered a consignment of quality tobacco we now have 5 000 tiny lots of poor quality produce.

Gono said, " If you come to my farm, you will see that I venture into crops I am able to grow. I do not grow tobacco. But those crops I am able to grow, I grow them well." This is sound advice that should be heeded regardless of whether the crop in question is maize, wheat, soya beans or tobacco. If these hard truths are not faced, agriculture will continue to be a millstone around the nation's neck instead of being a source of economic wealth and food security. More officials should join Gono in conceding that some mistakes were made and they need to be corrected.

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