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A major breakthrough was
reached yesterday when for the first time, the Commercial Farmers Union pledged
to support land reforms by releasing farming equipment worth $30 billion and
providing skills to newly settled farmers.
The breakthrough was reached at a meeting between the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Cde Joseph Made and the CFU leadership comprising president Mr Colin Cloete and vice-president Mr Doug Taylor-Freeme in Harare. The equipment includes large tractors, disc ploughs, harrows, irrigation pipes, combine harvesters, tobacco-curing equipment, sprayers and many other farming implements all estimated to be worth $30 billion. Sources close to the meeting said Mr Cloete pledged to work with the Government in ensuring the success of the agrarian reforms, promoting productivity, and ensuring food security and economic recovery. The meeting followed an appeal by Cde Made for the former commercial farmers to release the equipment they had taken to warehouses and auction centres in various towns throughout the country for use by the newly settled farmers. The Government would buy the equipment and if they were not for sale, would pay for services rendered to the new farmers, such as tillage and irrigation facilities. The sources who attended the meeting quoted Mr Cloete as saying: "We are still Zimbabweans, we want to be part of the nation and to be useful in any way. "We would like to be helpful wherever we can. We have tried to take politics out of the CFU. We are trying to talk farming issues and getting our unions together. We have gone a long way down the road." The sources said Cde Made told the farmers that the equipment would be used by the new farmers and on national projects such as the Nuanetsi project and the proposed irrigation projects in Chirundu and at Charara, in Mashonaland West province. "We did realise that mechanisation will be the heart of everything, in whatever form, be they scotch carts, ploughs or tractors, let us have the former white farmers coming up with equipment. We want to buy it, not to have it for free. Those who do not want to sell it can give their services to the new farmers. "We are looking at food security. The world will not continue feeding us. We want to continue planting. We have our own initiatives. Hippo and Triangle gave us land. We have started on Nuanetsi and we want to peed it up," he is quoted as having said. The Government wanted to open up irrigation schemes at Charara and in Chirundu and put the areas under maize and wheat. The breakthrough comes at a time the CFU leadership has come round to embrace the changes that have taken place under the land reforms and have found a positive role in the country. Agricultural industry sources said this should constitute a breakthrough in the stand-off that the British government had tried to create between the CFU and the Government Many farmers had withdrawn their equipment with the hope of taking it out of the country. But the Government last year gazetted laws making it an offence to take farming equipment out of the country. According to one expert, this equipment was lying idle and benefiting no one and the decision to release it was therefore pragmatic because the owners, the new farmers and the country's economy would benefit. A CFU member who declined to be named said: "This is the moment we have been waiting for. We are very encouraged by this news and hope that the British government and others will see this as an opportunity for a fresh start that is more positive and build on this initiative to promote understanding." Last year, former CFU director Mr Dave Hasluck criticised the British government for reneging on their promise to release funds to compensate white commercial farmers for the improvements on the farms. The Government has allocated $4,5 billion in the 2003 national budget for compensation for the improvements on the farms. It has challenged the British government to compensate the farmers in accordance with the country's laws. Sources said the breakthrough might be the spark that the British government needs, especially as it comes on the eve of a meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and South African President Thabo Mbeki. Sources close to the meeting yesterday said Mr Cloete was upbeat. The CFU leader could not be reached for comment. However, Dr Made confirmed that he had an excellent meeting with the CFU leadership. "It is the best meeting that we have ever had," the minister said, but declined to comment further, saying there were a number of details still to be worked out. Agricultural Research and Extension Services officials said the equipment would come in handy to open up a lot of land, especially irrigable land. They said with this development, it should be possible to still plant maize in areas where the crop has been devastated by the drought. An agricultural economist said that it was quite encouraging against a background of the on-going dialogue between the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and the Government to find ways of resuscitating the economy. Last year private sector companies, namely Delta and FSI Agricom, injected billions of dollars in support of the new farmers. The unresolved question in the land reforms has been whether white farmers who were members of the besieged CFU would co-operate and support the programme. After the conclusion of the fast track programme last year. A number of white farmers left the country for Australia, Britain and New Zealand, where reports say they have been facing difficulties. Others organised themselves into groups that started exploring opportunities in neighbouring countries. A few went to South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia. But many others have remained on farms under the prescribed one man, one farm policy. Sources close to yesterday's meeting said Dr Made also told the CFU leaders that they were Zimbabweans and should therefore not ask questions about where they should fit in. The commercial farmers are said to have expressed concern at the shortage of fertiliser and fuel saying this was retarding land preparation, in view of the impending winter cropping season. The shortage of coal, which is used to cure tobacco, was also threatening the tobacco industry. However, Dr Made said he would talk to the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Ambassador Amos Midzi with a view to having some fuel allocated for agricultural purposes. He said the opening up of the old Beitbridge should speed up the movement of food and inputs into the country. The Mulindwas
communication group
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