(TALKZIMBAWE) Commentary on Zim: no excuse for ignorance
Commentary on Zim: no excuse for ignorancePeter Nyadongo (alias) - Opinion
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:48:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR - The level of ignorance exhibited by anti-Government commentators in this day and age where information is readily available at the press of a button is inexcusable.
The land reforms in Zimbabwe have not been a failure. During the 2008/2009 cropping season, Zimbabwe doubled its maize output. The reasons why Zimbabwean farmers’ productivity has been affected are varied, but prohibitive costs of inputs, lack of finance, droughts and sanctions have been major factors.
In Malawi, the Government has attributed the rise in maize production to subsidised fertiliser. For instance in 2004, the price of 50kg of fertiliser was around K4000 (about US$27) and in 2007, the government brought it down to K950 (about US$6.50). This made a big difference on the ground as more farmers were able to access the fertiliser and increase the acreage of maize grown. (Source: Malawi: Subsidising agriculture is not enough - http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=76591).
It is also interesting to note that it is black small-scale farmers in Malawi who have increased maize production in that country.
Interesting that some commentators on Zimbabwe are forever telling the world that black people have no farming skills.
In Zimbabwe, the government could not meaningfully provide subsidies because of the sanctions imposed by the West.
Some white Zimbabwean farmers who had ventured into Malawi to make a go of commercial farming in that country had to give up and return to Zimbabwe because of lack of funding (Source: Zimbabwe: White farmers begin returning home http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=73259).
Finance is, therefore, important if one wants to make a success of farming. That is why the West supports its farmers by giving them millions of US dollars in subsidies.
It is only ill-advised banks in Zimbabwe that cannot use a 99 year land lease as collateral.
Give the farmers in Zimbabwe access to affordable inputs and, as they say, the rest will be history.
The farmers in Zimbabwe have not failed, but the land reform programme is being deliberately sabotaged to make it fail. In the 1980/1990s, it was the black small scale farmers who fed the nation of Zimbabwe by producing over 70% of the maize. They earned Zimbabwe the accolade of 'Breadbasket of Africa'.
The kind of propaganda advanced by ill-advised commentators is getting a bit tedious.
Labels: LAND REFORM
posted by MrK @ 2:26 PM
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