1/There’s no 2 ways about it, land reform was a noble initiative. It was brought about to economically emancipate the people of Zim&balance land distribution. The founding principles of the struggle were sound&people based, wealth to the people, one man, one vote for the majority
2/ If you take the time to review & reflect the success and/or failure of the land reform as I have recently, you will realise, yes it’s a success in that the majority now own the land. Has it however been a success economically, no it hasn’t.
3/ While the minority do not own the land, they now control the money, the product. They were no longer growing maize, they were into flowers & game. The land was taken away & we had the opportunity to grow our staple foods.
4/ Historically, most of the silos are in the former “peasant” farmer areas like Magunje, Hurungwe etc those were the areas that grew farms, the “peasant” areas. Inputs were affordable, there were no Government programmes & people would buy their own inputs on the open market.
5/ This is a clear indication that the majority have always been good at growing maize, our staple food, a skill passed down from generation to generation. The environment allowed for them to grow & provide food adequately.
6/Come land reform however there was a stage where the majority were clandestinely taking advice from the minority. I recall a time as Chairman, Mash West convening a meeting with all the white farmers to mitigate this and warn them of the illegality& need to regularise with Govt
7/ I followed this meeting with another with the then Minister of Agric, Hon. Mombeshora emphasising whether we like it or not, blacks were entering into land agreements with whites& the best way forward would be to regularise the situation through a template with set guidelines.
8/ This arrangement would further serve to secure the incidents where some blacks farmers would be found taking the crop from the white farmers when it was ready for harvesting without recourse for the white farmers as the deals entered into were not recognised at law
9/ From this & further deliberations at Govt level, a template was subsequently drafted legalising joint ventures. However, this template is now proving to be biased towards the white farmers. Whilst the minority continue to enjoy economic sovereignty for now,
10/ the indigenous should too benefit from the transfer of skills & equipment. At what stage should there be a cut off & why aren’t the financial institutions not facilitating indigenous players to do the same?
11/ We have examples of indigenous farmers who have proved their mettle in the agricultural sector & are models worth emulating. Equipment procurement is vital. If you look at the current scenario, the best equipment is given to minority farmers under the misguided perception
12/ that they service their loans better than the indigenous farmers.
Downsizing of farms is a further good initiative, however, it should be targeted at unproductive farms. Let’s not take away from those indigenous farmers who have been productive &
Downsizing of farms is a further good initiative, however, it should be targeted at unproductive farms. Let’s not take away from those indigenous farmers who have been productive &
13/have invested in their farming activities. There’re many agro based indigenous companies that would successfully perform with Govt support. I thus hope Hon. Shiri will review the Ministry’s stance and that what he went to the struggle for will come to fruition; @MoLAWRR_Zim
14/ to see black empowerment. Illegal farm settlers must be removed to mitigate the prevalence of illegalities where traditional leaders are selling land etc.
Govt has not reviewed land reform & whether it had achieved its set target & if not why?
Govt has not reviewed land reform & whether it had achieved its set target & if not why?
15/ The land agreements should be structured at a minimum 70/30 shareholding in favour of the indigenous. Others have even gone on to enter land agreements that aren’t governed by the Govt to their detriment.
16/ Agribank @AgribankZim currently has a tractor scheme, but who are the tractors going to go to? Most likely to the minority who’ll go & get more. Chadwick is a good example of a farmer whose farming influence continues to spread to his advantage.
17/ If you’re not controlling the resources, agriculture, tobacco, maize, gold etc who do you blame? It’s the Govt who gives concessions & claims to the minority. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s about time Govt reviewed its empowerment policies.
18/ Indigenisation has been scrapped so what’s there for the people? When the Govt is sabotaged, who do they blame? There must be a deliberate policy of review & to empower capable indigenous players. If you look at fertiliser, who controls its?
19/ FSG, for the past 5 or so years it’s made in excess of 500 million & therefore has the capacity to supply more. They’re currently the only ones with fertiliser in Zim & yet we’ve local companies like Sable, ZFC, Windmill etc @SableChemicals @ZFCLimited
20/ who have the capacity to sell it cheaper but aren’t offered the same opportunities. The same goes for seed producers like Seedco @SeedCoGroup
21/Outside agric, the same applies to companies like Willowvale Motor Industry who aren’t where they’re supposed to be through lack of investment&Govt support in purchasing vehicles. Isn’t corruption the motivator that causes such skewed anomalies to the detriment of the economy?
