No farmers, no future

were available everywhere because it was the first I have seen. It is a wonderful statement which should be displayed for motorists and pedestrians alike to read.

What future does the sticker refer to?
I am sure the future meant is economic and political. It is the political economy that brought land to the resettled farmers on whose shoulders the future economy of this country rests.

It is also a fact that the support to these hard-working farmers, who can guarantee the future prosperity of the country, has not been adequate from the inclusive Government.

Why has this happened? Maybe, those in the inclusive Government do not share the wisdom of the sticker that without farmers, there is no future. Others may be against the resettled farmers but yearn for the yesteryear farmers that have long been replaced. To the trade unions, they were unhappy that they could not levy union dues from the farm workers since the white farmers thought they are just agitators.

But the guerrilla had no notion about levying the farming employees for a pittance but to actually possess the land. That is the problem that arises today where the trade union movement is preoccupied with dues from the workers and not the political economy. Farming has been transformed to a political economy just as the indigenisation and empowerment policies have become.

This is difficult for trade unions and the parties they support, that do not believe in the creation of a political economy. In many capitalist economies, they have done away with trade unions, whose sole existence is to milk the workers of their hard-earned cash for payment of dues to the union. Those former trade union bosses have become very rich without ever holding a salaried job or running their own businesses. Where did the money come from?

In the countries where trade unions have tasted political power, they have been thrown out by the electorate at the next election. In Poland, the electorate brought back the communists after the trade unions failed to run the country. In Zambia, they were thrown out, once again after the electorate realised that they had made a mistake. One trade union political official was found with 400 pairs of size four shoes hidden in a warehouse. A British paper reported that he had monogrammed shirts bought in Switzerland at US$2000  each. It is amazing that from a champion of the workers, promising the electorate economic development and then indulging in such monetary excesses did not make sense.

What choices is the electorate facing? They are quite clear. The farmer is the starting point. The future lies with supporting the farmers with adequate resources. That is the first port of call for the future of the economy. Many people may not understand that the biggest budget allocation for the European Union is for their farmers. It is called the Common Agriculture Policy.

What underpins this policy are the subsidies that are given to the farmers in order to compete on the world markets. The EU farmers do not just sell their products to EU consumers only but to the world at large. The farmer organisations are the most highly politicised institutions and not the trade unions.

Those politicians that want to get into power have to court the support of the farming institutions. The workers in these farms are in agreement with the farmers in protecting the farming operations. Therefore, the political parties that support the farmers have a greater chance of being elected into power or entrusted with the responsibility of running the country.

Some politicians may denigrate the rural people but they are part of the farming community that will decide the fate of any political party that does not have their interests at heart. There is a mistaken view that foreign investment can by itself create jobs in this country. It is the economic activity of the political economy already in the country that will attract foreign investment.

This is why politics has to play its part to harness  the natural resources where the indigenous people of this country can fully play their part in developing the economy.