Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Agriculture is the economic driver of Zimbabwe

Agriculture is the economic driver of Zimbabwe
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:23:00 +0000

THE continent of Africa is well known for being dependant on agriculture. In spite of the fact that almost 65% of the continent’s population is engaged in farming, there is a food deficit in Africa. Many countries in Africa are forced to import food items from other countries, some of which have a negligible agricultural labour force. Has someone bothered to ask why?

Zimbabwe’s situation has been viewed to be very different from other African countries. A prominent factor identified as being responsible for this unfortunate and unacceptable situation is the sabotaging of the agricultural sector by its own government.

Despite the conviction that Finance Minister Tendai Biti openly admitted during his 2010 National Budget presentation that the agricultural sector was the most contributor to Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), he unashamedly went on to allocate a mere US$50 million out of the expected US$900 million to the sector.

If this is not clear enough, what more does the ordinary person wants to see to convince him that the so called Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) is bent on frustrating the agrarian reform program in Zimbabwe?

The Black farmer in Zimbabwe has been starved of inputs and bank loans so that he will be viewed as incompetent and incapable of doing anything without the
guidance of his white “master”.

The media is awash with reports about a serious shortage of ammonium nitrate in the country. These are the deliberate works of imperialist puppets working in cahoots with their masters in complementing the ruinous illegal sanctions imposed on this mineral rich country by the United States of America, United Kingdom and the European Union all in a futile effort to gain control of the country’s natural resources.

When the country finally introduced the land reform program in 2000, many white commercial farmers ran away. Some found themselves in neighbouring Zambia
and Mozambique while some went as far as Nigeria to seek what they called a new start after “being dislocated from their home country.”

Their home country?

A lot has been written about this small group of 19 white former Zimbabwean commercial farmers who received a warm welcome from the Nigerian government.

Research carried out by this writer indicates that the farmers enjoyed top-level political support in some provinces especially in Shonga, Kwara state where the governor is said to have sought out the Zimbabwean farmers to kick start commercial agriculture in the state. He was mesmerized by the farmers’ pioneering spirit to convert virgin bushes into farmlands.

Could it be that the white farmer in Zimbabwe was successful because he was white or was born with “commercial farming genes” which the black farmer did
not have? Some schools of thought were perplexed why the populous, rich, welleducated Nigeria subjected itself to the humiliation of putting its commercial farming hopes on a small desperate group of white farmers from Zimbabwe.

Out of 19 white farmers who went to Nigeria in 2006, only eight are left to assist in the production of food and help develop agriculture in that country.

Some Nigerian agricultural economist admitted that the coming in of Zimbabwean white farmers exposed the flaws within that country’s agricultural sector.

The Nigerian banks were not used to issues of advancing agricultural loans and had difficulties in assessing the new arrivals for loans.

The majority of farmers that left were forced to do so by the interest rate trouble.

Interest rates on bank loans swung like a pendulum forcing many to fail to repay back the loans. Some were having problems with local residents who lay claims to the land allocated to the new farmers.

What these white farmers did not realize is that when they left Zimbabwe for Nigeria, they were actually jumping from the boiling pot strait into the fire.

Every Tom, Dick and Harry knows why Zimbabwe is wreathing in this economic quagmire. Politics is at play here. Foreign opposition forces are clinging like a tick on a cadaverous body of a dying cow. They would not want to let Zimbabwe go no matter how people suffer.

The saddening thing is that they are using local Zimbabweans who are operating like sheep in the wolf’s clothing. They have broadened their economic sabotage by crippling the agricultural sector to starve the ordinary Zimbabwean while the elite few puppets feed on the fortune of the “Western master”.

Even Zimbabwe’s political critique, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa who is the Patron of the Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust mentioned that the
Trust’s mission is to undertake the task of alleviating the hardship and suffering amongst members of the farming community in Zimbabwe.

At least he understands that, politics aside, people need to survive and the majority makes their livelihood through farming. Many will agree with this writer that Minister Biti did not do justice to the agricultural sector by allocating a mere US$50 million.

Growth projections of 10% in agriculture this season and the subsequent year have already fallen away. Nobody expects the agricultural sector to be revived with such a meagre allocation from the national budget.

Minister Biti’s actions can be likened to that of killing the goose that lay the golden egg.

The same minister has extended his arrogance to the civil servants when he mentioned that he cannot do anything about their salaries because the issue had already been passed by parliamentarians.

How many times has the Zimbabwean constitution been amended to suit the prevailing conditions?

He forgets that for him and his colleagues to be in government today, it is because of an amendment made to the constitution. Why can he not amend what was passed by Parliament to attend to the plight of poor civil servants?

This attitude coming from a person who harbours presidential ambitions demeans the status of that high office.

Biti claims to be there for the people, yet every action he takes in his capacity as finance minister and every word that comes from his mouth concerning the welfare of Zimbabweans, proves otherwise.

This writer is grateful to the authorities for adopting a “Look East Policy”. Had it not been the 'Good Samaritans' from the East who quickly intervened with agricultural inputs, surely this season was going to be more than a disaster.

The enemy would want the world to view Zimbabweans as failures hence the economic sabotage coming in various forms.

This writer has connected enough of the dots; anyone can fill the rest so that the world can see the picture.

Sixpence Manyengavana

Labels: AGRICULTURE, CHINA, NEOCOLONIALISM, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 5:55 AM