Zimbabwe comprises 39 million hectares of land.  Of this, 32,76 million hectares is farm land, of which only half is arable.  The balance is small scale commercial, communal / resettlement, parks and state forest land.

 

Prior to the land invasions, 76 percent of the 12,5 million people in Zimbabwe used to make a direct living from the land:  7,5 million living in communal areas and two million living on commercial farms.

 

When the British stopped funding land reform in Zimbabwe in 1995, 28 percent of the land was owned by commercial farmers, the majority of whom were white.

 

By 2000 this figure had dropped to 22 percent, of which 18,5 percent was white owned. 

 

The figure that Mugabe states, i.e. that whites owned 70% of the best arable land, is totally incorrect.

 

Prior to 2000, commercial farmers owned most of the freehold tenure land and there were 4,300 large-scale commercial farmers active in Zimbabwe in December 2000 on 6,800 properties. 

 

Today farmers groups estimate the number of white commercial farmers left on the land to be around 350.

 

Of the 4,300 large-scale commercial farmers, 82% had purchased their land after independence in 1980, with certificates of no present interest from the government because there was no shortage of land.

 

The commercial farms produced the bulk of the country’s food and 25-30 percent of the foreign currency.

 

The land invasions

 

The government-orchestrated land invasions began in February 2000, just days after President Mugabe lost a referendum to further entrench his presidential powers.

 

Although President Mugabe claims that this was a land reform programme designed to hand white-owned farmland to poor, landless black Zimbabweans, the main beneficiaries have been the elite – security force officers, Politburo members, their family members and even judges.

 

Many A1 settlers - small-scale farmers who were moved onto farms - were subsequently told to vacate the land or face eviction, paving the way for the properties to be handed over to members of the ruling elite.

 

With little or no government support, small-scale farmers who remain on the land face a number of challenges which erode their production potential. These include limited access and high prices of key inputs, such as fertilizer, seeds and tillage.

 

A lack of cattle dipping tanks and dipping chemicals and a further decline in animal health delivery services have resulted in a number of animal deaths, all of which seriously undermine the coping capacity of many rural households.

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Escalating food crisis

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In a statement released during early October, the United States-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) reported that up to 40 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural population would need urgent food aid between October and next March to avert mass starvation. 

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The famine early warning body, which has previously said more than 4.1 million Zimbabweans or over a third of the population would need food aid this year, warned in its latest report that the food security situation in Zimbabwe would worsen between October 2007 and February 2008. 

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One million urban residents are also estimated to need assistance over the next six months. 

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Previously southern Africa’s breadbasket, Zimbabwe has been plagued with severe food shortages over the past seven years due to the chaotic land reform programme and intermittent droughts which, prior to 2000, the highly sophisticated commercial farming sector was equipped to handle.

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Food as a weapon

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Aid organisations, opposition parties and members of civic society consistently document cases demonstrating that Zimbabwean authorities discriminate against perceived political opponents by denying them access to food programs.

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This practice is especially prevalent in the months leading up to elections.

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Organisations such as the Human Rights Forum have produced comprehensive reports on the widespread politicisation of the government's subsidized grain programme, managed by the Grain Marketing Board, as well as the manipulation of international food aid.  

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The overall problem is now so serious that the international development cooperation organisation Kooperation Utan Gränser / Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC) has demanded the creation of a food observer force.

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At the beginning of October this year, the organisation presented a damning report titled "Be loyal - or starve!"

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The cost to the Agricultural Sector – 15 November 2007

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Zimbabwe has accrued a US$5 billion trade deficit over the past five years due to the destabilisation of agriculture, a parliamentary committee has reported.

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The Lands and Agriculture committee, in its first report on preparations for the 2007/08 farming season, cited the deficit after gathering evidence from the ministries of Agriculture and Agricultural Mechanisation as well as farmers’ unions, seed houses, and Agribank. 

 

For the full story on the cost to agriculture: http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=1646

 

ENDS

 

For further information:

Mr Ben Freeth

Mount Carmel Farm, Zimbabwe

Cell:  +263 773 929 138 (updated)

E-mail:  freeth@bsatt.com