adminFanuel Kangondo in Vumba
Beneficiaries of the county’s land reform are failing to achieve higher productivity because they have not been given the requisite financial and material support from both the Government and financial institutions, former ZB Financial Holdings chief executive Mr Elisha Mushayakarara has said.
Responding to a presentation by agricultural consultant Dr Douglas Ncube at the Zimbabwe Institute of Management’s 12th annual international Management Conference in Vumba on Wednesday evening, Mr Mushayakarara said it was unfair to label the agrarian reform a failure without evaluating the impact of the enabling factors for the programme.
He singled out the access to capital as one of the biggest challenges affecting the performance of the majority of new farmers to enable them to successfully exploit their farming endeavours.
“We often hear of claims that we have failed in our agrarian reforms because of the low yields that are coming out of the farms, but nobody has spoken about the difficulties the farmers are facing to access capital.
“A few have succeeded yes, but how many of us have access to such resources?
“It has proven difficult for the majority of the farmers to access capital and we need to address this as a matter of urgency.”
Mr Mushayakarara is a former senior secretary for finance. His remarks come in the wake of Government’s reassurance that it will provide more support for the agricultural sector to improve productivity and effective utilisation of the land. This would be enhanced through the provision of inputs to smallholder and new farmers across the country, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa recently announced.
Dr Ncube said that there was need to change the conception of land owners to that of productive farmers for an effective agrarian reform in Zimbabwe.
He said that Africa had scored a distinction in that it had more than 60 percent of the total proportion of unused arable land.
He said that land should no longer be viewed as a political tool, but as a productive tool to enhance people’s livelihoods.
“Land reform lays the foundation for agrarian reform. To enjoy the fruits of a revolutionised agricultural sector there is need to embrace and endure transformation that is beyond seeing the reallocation of resources or power.
“Wealth is not only dependent on the amount of physical resources we acquire or keep for ourselves.
“The wealth we create is more dependent on the technology we develop to utilise or rather maximise on our physical resources.”
Online Reporter