adminThe Government, soon after independence, embarked on the resettlement programme in a bid to correct the anomaly but not much was achieved because the whites who were supposed to sell the land to Government under “the willing buyer, willing seller clause” agreed to at the Lancaster House Conference, were reluctant to do so. Things got worse when the Labour government took over in Britain in 1997 and refused to pay compensation as had been agreed.
After the British government reneged on its Lancaster House Conference commitment, the Government, in 2000, embarked on a fast track land reform programme in response to the agitated landless Zimbabweans who could not wait any longer. The fast track land reform programme has seen more than 300 000 families allocated land under both the A1 and A2 resettlement models.
Zimbabweans who before independence had been pushed to barren lands to create room for white commercial farmers, are now proud owners of land in areas that used to be a preserve of the whites.
The challenge to the new land owners is to use the land productively so that Zimbabwe can regain its status as the bread basket for the Southern African region. Zimbabwe used to produce surplus to feed its neighbours and the bulk of this food was produced by communal farmers despite the fact that most of them were farming on poor soils.
The new farmers, some of whom got virgin land, therefore have no excuse for failing to produce not just for national consumption but surplus for export as well. What is pleasing to note is that some of the new farmers are not just using the land productively but have moved to another level which is value addition. What quickly comes to mind is the First Family’s Gushungo Dairy Estate in Mazowe in Mashonaland Central Province.
Speaking recently during a tour of the farm by members of the Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Women’s League, the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe said indigenous commercial farmers should invest in value addition.
Amai Mugabe is not just preaching about value addition but is one of the few new farmers that are already enjoying the fruits of investing in value addition. The First Lady has a state-of-the-art dairy processing plant for the production of various dairy products such as fresh milk, ice cream, yoghurt and juices.
The new farmers should therefore borrow a leaf or two from her so that they too can realise more from their produce. It is good for farmers to provide raw materials for our industries but they can realise more by investing in value addition. Africa has remained poor despite the fact that it is endowed with natural resources because it is exporting the bulk of its resources in raw form instead of finished products.
The continent is the major supplier of mineral ores, crude oil, timber and farm produce to the industrialised nations and as such is not realising much. The Mugabes have demonstrated that the new farmers in their small way can stop this continued exploitation of the continent by the industrialised West and probably the challenge is to mobilise as many new farmers as possible to embrace this concept of value addition.
Farmers cannot continue to mourn about poor prices for their produce when they can process the farm produce themselves and sell finished products at their own price. We at this juncture want to challenge the new farmers to, without delay, start investing in value addition so that they realise more from their sweat.
Online Reporter