adminand rightly so for they are sworn opponents of the programme that has transformed the lives of thousands of hitherto landless and penniless Zimbabweans.
Enthusiastic beneficiaries of land reform have struggled to productively use the land against the backdrop of the illegal sanctions imposed by the West. Against all odds, the farmers commonly referred to as new farmers have much to the chagrin of opponents of land reform turned vast tracts of land into greenbelts.
The road to success has, of course, been littered with numerous sanctions-induced impediments, designed to paint the new landowners as incompetent, greedy and good for nothing people wanting to take agriculture down the drain. Luckily Zimbabweans are inherently farmers, who even when the white people dominated the agriculture landscape during the colonial era, they still produced the bulk of the country’s maize as the white farmers concentrated on growing maize for livestock and other crops deemed elite.
Despite all the setbacks, that included, the shortage of fertiliser, chemicals, seed and spares for agricultural equipment and machinery, the farmers were determined to show the world that they were as good, if not better than the previous landholders. Seeing the zeal and determination the farmers exhibited the Government did not disappoint and looked East and came up with numerous schemes, in the form of inputs and mechanisation to assist the farmers.
Indeed it worked wonders and the result was an increase in crop production, a feat that left opposers of land reform with egg in the face. The common enemy of land reform known by everyone had been defeated.
While celebrations were taking place that the foreign enemy had been swept away, domestic enemies were fast manifesting themselves and today we have them in our midst in the form of the Grain Marketing Board and the Ministry of Finance.
So in our discussions on the enemies of land reform, we must not forget to also mention the GMB and the Finance Ministry. With the rainy season just around the corner and the weather experts yesterday forecasting normal 2011/2012 rainfall season, farmers have all the reason to be very afraid. The key to successful farming is planning. But how do farmers plan when they still have not been paid for the maize they sold to the GMB? Farmers need to buy fertiliser now, seed, chemicals, diesel and plan their tillage programmes which they cannot do now as most of them are yet to receive payment. Yes some have been paid but others have not been paid.
The delay in paying farmers for their produce is the reason why every year they suffer dwindling yields. Timing is very important for a healthy yield and now the fate of most farmers is no longer in their hands but in the hands of the GMB and the Ministry of Finance.
By now farmers should have stockpiled their inputs ready for the season but instead they are busy making trips to GMB depots to enquire about payment and all the time looking up the sky. When farmers make enquiries to the GMB about payment, they are told the all too familiar story that Treasury has not yet released the money. Some of these farmers do not even understand what this animal called Treasury is all about. All they know is that they sold their maize to the GMB and must be paid their money. Yet it is also good to understand why the Ministry of Finance does not prioritise the release of money in time to the GMB.
It has been said time and again and even President Mugabe talked about it when he officially opened Parliament on Tuesday that agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. Yet events on the ground do not prove an understanding by some Government officials of the importance of agriculture.
There should be a timeframe by which all farmers would have been paid for their produce sold to the GMB. That timeframe should be mindful of the fact that it is of no use paying farmers late as their land preparations would have already been delayed.
If all farmers who do business with the GMB are paid by now, then surely, they can still have some time to run around and plan their production schedule. We need to have people in the Ministry of Finance who appreciate the importance of agriculture to the economy and what it takes to achieve high levels of production. It doesn’t just take good rainfall but timing and farmers can only adhere to the planting times if they have all their inputs in stock. So, in order to win the war against enemies of land reform such as Britain, the US and its allies, we need to deal with the GMB and the Ministry of
Finance. The delay by farmers to plant crops according to the planting deadlines will impact negatively on yields and consequently on production. A decline in production will certainly provide arsenal to critics of our agrarian reform yet the slump has nothing to do with the farmers’ ability or lack of it but with payment delays induced by the GMB and the Finance Ministry.
Farmers no longer have confidence in the GMB but continue to sell to the board because it is the only one paying a much higher price than other players in the business. At US$285 per tonne, the GMB is an attractive customer but concerns remain about its ability to pay the farmers in time.
Every year farmers complain about GMB’s delays in payment and every year the GMB blames the Ministry of Finance but the question remains: “For how long will this continue?” What farmers need is a longterm solution to the problem and not this blame game at their expense.
When the Reserve of Bank of Zimbabwe was involved in quasi-fiscal programmes farmers were among the group of people that benefited immensely through on the spot payment for their crops. Spot cash payments helped farmers to plan their production well ahead of time and even when the heavens opened up unexpectedly, they found farmers ready. Which is not the case now.
If the rains were to fall now, most farmers would not know what to do and this is why the prediction of normal rainfall makes farmers very afraid as all there is in their pockets are their hands and identity particulars in their wallets.
It is very disheartening to know that you have money, loads of it, for that matter somewhere but you cannot access it. It is even more saddening to fail to plant crops in time because you could not get payment well in time. We have seen many farmers buying inputs when the rains are already falling and thought they were disorganised yet the problem lies squarely on the GMB and the Ministry of Finance.
It is has been said again and again that when agriculture catches a cold, the nation sneezes yet we still have some in our midst who continue to play with matters of national food security.
Online Reporter