‘Miners, farmers find common ground on land’

Oliver Kazunga

Senior Business Reporter

PLAYERS in Zimbabwe’s mining and agriculture sectors have been able to reduce their differing interests on land ownership and are now working together for the good of the economy, a senior Government official said.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos said this while officially opening the Mining and Agriculture Breakfast Interface held at the ongoing Zimbabwe Agriculture Show in Harare yesterday.

By 2025, the two sectors are projected to contribute an estimated US$20 billion to Zimbabwe’s GDP. On its part, the value of mining sector output is expected to grow to S$12 billion by the end of this year.

The agriculture sector, which in 2021 surpassed the Government’s initial target of US$8,2 billion economy, is now anticipated to reach US$13,75 billion by 2025.

In recent years, there have been a lot of conflicts between miners and farmers, easily two of Zimbabwe’s most important industries, due to wrangles over land rights in many communities.

In March this year, Parliament conducted public hearings on the Mines and Mining Amendment Bill seeking to harmonise perennial disputes between farmers and miners through legal provisions for conflict resolution.

The proposed resolution mechanisms include negotiations, referring disputes to the courts of law, and an option allowing the farmer to sell the land property to the miner among other measures.

Mining and agriculture are the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy, which is expected to register a 5,3 percent growth this year.

The positive growth trajectory is anchored on the agriculture sector’s anticipated growth of 9,7 percent and the mining industry’s 4,8 percent growth.

“It is therefore clear that the growth in the Zimbabwean economy will remain firmly tied to mining and agriculture in the foreseeable future.

“Having said this, let me note that mining and agriculture in the past have been viewed as strange bedfellows known more for their conflictual relationship than for amicable working relations. “Farmers who work on the top part of the soil have haggled with miners who exploit deeper layers of the ground.

“Relations however, took a turn for the better in 2018 when the two sectors forged some partnerships to uplift livelihoods in communities through the Livestock Revitalisation Programme,” said Deputy Minister Haritatos.

Under the arrangement brokered by the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS), he said the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development forged a partnership with his ministry to artificially inseminate cattle to enhance animal genetics for better breeds that fetch high value.

Deputy Minister Haritatos noted the role being played by the mining sector across the agriculture value chain adding that it was imperative for agriculture and mining to work in unison to foster broad-based inclusive development.

“It is pleasing to note that the mining sector produces some products that are needed in agriculture such as phosphates, lime, vermiculite and coal.

“It is therefore essential as we craft our policies to ensure we promote linkages within various sectors, mining and agriculture included,” he said.

Mimosa Mining Company general manager Engineer Stephen Ndiyamba said his organisation, one of Zimbabwe’s platinum producers based in Zvishavane in the Midlands Province, has embraced the clarion call by the community from which it operates, to engage in sustainable and transformative interventions that uplift livelihoods.

“To this end, we have been implementing key projects that include the Livestock Revitalisation Project, Mtshingwe Nursery, Small Grains Growing, and Local Enterprise Development (LED).

“We are among the first group of miners to partner ZAS and the Department of Veterinary Services at the launch of the Livestock Revitalisation Programme in 2018.

“Through complementary handover of pedigree bulls and heifers and using artificial insemination to enhance animal genetics, we have recorded modest progress.

“We have handed over 500 bulls and 300 heifers and we have started receiving pedigree cows, over 300 of them,” he said.

“We are witnessing a transformation in the cattle herd in Zvishavane, we have also refurbished dip-tanks in every ward and drilled over 70 boreholes to provide clean drinking water for communities and their livestock.

“Our other intervention and community-driven agriculture practices revolve around the Mtshingwe Nurseries – a tree, horticulture, seedlings and ornamental plants, and training hubs we set up in partnership with the Friends of the Environment in 2013, having noted the problem of deforestation and the need to create resilience for climatic shocks occasioned by climate change.”

Speaking during a plenary discussion, Zimplats head of communications Hama Saburi said mining firms need to do more with a bias towards supporting agriculture.

“We need to invest in irrigation beyond our current social performance programme is education, health, LED and infrastructure.

“We need to invest in renewable energy for the benefit not just for the miners, but also agriculture and for miners to do more, key stakeholders such as the Government . . . need to look at how CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) efforts are inclined towards agriculture,” he said.

Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe technical affairs manager Mr David Matyanga who spoke representing the chamber’s chief executive officer Mr Isaac Kwesu said almost all large mining houses in the country are involved in CSR initiatives.

“The extent to which they reach in terms of their efforts is limited by their financial capacity . . . and we also want to point out that mine is like a fish in water with the community being the water. Without a good relationship in mining communities, mining projects often struggle to operate smoothly.

“The mining industry therefore values communities in which they operate and this is reflected in the equality of the relationships that exist to them,” he said.