|
Bob hires new farm workers in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has turned to China for help in restoring its agricultural productivity after two years of land seizures which are largely blamed for causing a famine now threatening more than seven million people. In aBirds of a feather ... The country was until recently extolled as the "breadbasket of Africa" for its ability to feed itself and export grains. But following the state land seizures - which have cut the number of white-owned farms from 4,500 to 600 - nearly two-thirds of the 12 million population risk starvation, says the United Nations. A moderate drought is also seen as a contributing factor. Here's that cause and effect thing again. Many seized farms are standing idle, in what is the peak growing season, because black farmers awarded the land have not started farming. Because ... maybe they don't know how to farm? The minister of agriculture, Joseph Made, admitted last month that half the seized land allocated to black farmers had not been taken up. One reason is that the new farmers are only given permits to farm and not the title to the land, which would allow them to mortgage it and buy equipment. Most do not have the funds for seeds, fertiliser and equipment to develop plots. Not to mention that with only a permit and not a title, it's a simple administrative procedure to throw you out and bring in someone else. Didn't that just happen recently? So why bust yer butt following Bessie the Water Buffalo around the back 40 when you could be gone tomorrow? Chinese and Zimbabwean developers estimate that the project could yield 2.1m tonnes of maize a year by producing three crops a year. This would easily satisfy Zimbabwe's annual domestic demand for 1.8m tonnes of maize. Only if Bob and his thugs stay out of the way, and the people sent by China know anything about modern agriculture. Of course, if Bob cared about modern agriculture he wouldn't have thrown out the farmers who had made the farms bountiful in the first place. The Chinese deal was hailed as "a major breakthrough in Zimbabwe's quest to return to food self-sufficiency" by the state-controlled news media. But independent agricultural experts dismissed the project as a "pie in the sky pipedream". "You cannot grow three crops of maize a year in this country, even with the best irrigation," said the director of a large agricultural business. "Many have tried to grow winter maize and have failed ... the whole notion of growing three crops a year is preposterous. To rely on such a scheme for the country's food self-sufficiency is dangerous." Oops. Guess those Chinese experts have some 'plaining to do. Harare has not revealed how much it will pay China for the development of the huge agricultural scheme, which calls for the company to establish a costly irrigation system. Because of Zimbabwe's drastic shortage of hard currency, it is believed that payment will be made with tobacco, which China buys in large quantities from Zimbabwe each year. But the land seizures have also reduced tobacco production. Isn't it nice how a plan comes together? The Mugabe government has recently met the Commercial Farmers Union and tried to negotiate a new deal under which white farmers will be given back their farms, or compensation, and in return they will hand over irrigation equipment. The farmers union has so far not agreed to the new offer. Although the government has claimed that the land seizures have ended, farmers' groups still report top officials grabbing farms and forcing owners off their properties. Bob wants all the white folks out, and won't stop seizing farms until that happens. Posted by: Steve White 2003-02-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=10186 |