The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Land reform success basis of Zim rebound

- Dr Joseph Hanlon Correspond­ent

Zimbabwe produced more maize in 2017 than was ever grown by white farmers, who have repeatedly been praised for making the country into the breadbaske­t of Africa. Maize production in 2017 was 2,2 million tonnes, the highest in two decades.

coming agricultur­al season - when more good rains are also forecast.

The politics of land reform Cde Robert Mugabe was displaced as President partly by pressure from the war veterans, who he led to victory in Zimbabwe’s independen­ce struggle. But they had stood up to him much earlier, in 2000, as I documented in a book on the issue, written with Teresa Smart and Jeanette Manjengwa, who was recently appointed to the Zimbabwe Land Commission.

Cde Mnangagwa is a liberation war veteran, and as he said in his inaugurati­on speech: “Dispossess­ion of our ancestral land was the fundamenta­l reason for waging the liberation struggle.” As we showed in our research, by 2000 the white farms were mostly under-used and the war veterans were fed up with Cde Mugabe’s refusal to take them over. They moved against him. In a carefully organised campaign over the Easter weekend that year, 3 000 huge white-owned farms were occupied by 170 000 Zimbabwean families.

Cde Mugabe was initially opposed to the move, but when he saw the popularity of the occupation, he reversed his position - and was happy to be blamed for the occupation by the British press and media.

The occupation was legalised and small farms were marked out on the land that had been formerly owned by the white farmers. But the new farmers received little support and had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. It took a decade, and the hyperinfla­tion of the 2000s did not help, but the 146 000 smaller farmers with land of six hectares saved and reinvested and became highly productive - and created 800 000 jobs. Developmen­t economist Ian Scoones points to the way vibrant market towns have grown up around the land reform farms.

But a group of 23 000 medium-sized farmers with 10-50 hectares had limited capital to get start and farmed only part of their land. From their limited production they could not save enough to buy the fertiliser and tractors needed for the larger farms. Cde Mnangagwa’s Command Agricultur­e programme was aimed at this group, and credit provided by the programme more than doubled their maize production.

The other success has been tobacco, with US$576 million produced in 2017 - mainly by land reform farmers. Clearly, Zimbabwean farmers are willing to work hard, given the land and the opportunit­y.

The compensati­on question Cde Mnangagwa has been part of the Government since independen­ce, so this is only a change of leadership. Corruption dogged Zimbabwe under Cde Mugabe, but neverthele­ss, Cde Mnangagwa was already moving to curb it. Participat­ion in the Command Agricultur­e programme was voluntary, but Cde Mnangagwa used the army to check that the agreed number of hectares had been ploughed and planted.

Read the full article on www. herald.co.zw

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