Africa scrambles for Zim farmers
- From: "zakanaka" <lalapansi@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 19 Aug 2005 00:55:58 -0700
Africa scrambles for Zim farmers
Augustine Mukaro
MORE than 20 African countries - in a bid to develop their commercial
agriculture - are scrambling to snap up Zimbabwe's farmers displaced
under the chaotic land reform.
The stampede for Zimbabwean farmers, renowned for their skills, comes
at a time when Zimbabwe is in financial dire straits and cannot feed
itself because of the failed agrarian experiment that has put an
estimated 4,3 million people at risk.
A Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) report circulated to its members at
its annual congress two weeks ago shows that the success of the
farmers' venture in Nigeria has generated interest from African
governments keen to develop commercial agriculture.
"The Nigerian project has opened many doors, and will continue to open
more doors in other countries, with private companies, and government
departments approaching us, wanting to put together similar projects,"
reads the report.
The report adds: "Countries that have contacted us and with whom we are
currently dealing include Ghana, Cameroon, Sudan, Guinea Bissau, Benin,
Central African Republic and Namibia."
The CFU also said a team was currently working on securing a project
similar to that in Nigeria in Senegal. "Three trips have been made to
Senegal and proposals are being put together. All parties involved are
positive about this venture," the farmers' organisation said.
Alan Jack, leader of the pioneering group that has relocated to
Nigeria, said up to 23 African countries had contacted his office with
propositions. Fifteen farmers and their families have already relocated
to Kwara State in Nigeria.
Most farmers who fled their farms at the height of the land invasions
have found new homes in African countries such as Mozambique, Zambia,
Malawi and Uganda.
Government continues to harass white commercial farmers still on the
land, creating a lot of uncertainty about the future of commercial
agriculture in the country. The farmers say proposed amendments to the
Land Act will nationalise all land.
The proposed amendments and their possible ramifications fly in the
face of Finance minister Herbert Murerwa's call in his mid-term fiscal
review statement this week for stability in the agricultural sector.
Justice for Agriculture chairman, John Worswick, told a parliamentary
hearing last week that the amendment would nationalise all farmland,
making it lose its market value.
"If the amendment passes, land in Zimbabwe will be owned on the basis
of patronage and not one's productiveness or ingenuity," Worswick said.
"While China has accepted the need for individual property rights,
Zimbabwe is moving completely in the opposite direction," he said.
CFU president Doug Taylor-Freeme took a swipe at the proposed
amendment, saying it would speed up the collapse of agriculture.
"It is extremely alarming to note that a new constitutional amendment
to the Land Act has been put to parliament which proposes that all land
gazetted for acquisition since 2000 cannot be contested in court. As
virtually every white farmer has been listed for acquisition in some
way or other this surely provides direct evidence that a process of
ethnic cleansing is taking place."
"If the objective of the authorities, by introducing such draconian
legislation, is to get agriculture back to work, they are wrong. It is
likely to increase the conflict of ownership of the business on the
land and reduce meaningful investment in agriculture," Taylor-Freeme
said.
www.theindependent.co.zw
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