Zimbabwe's farmers' union warned yesterday that violent land invasions have plunged the country into a food crisis.(Pictured:A villager attending to a poor crop)Charles Taffs, vice-president of the Commercial Farmers’ Union, said: “Zimbabwe is facing a crisis. The only people that do not understand it are the government.”
He said land invasions had brought farming to a halt. Even commercial farmers with title deeds to properties were reluctant to plant crops.
Spurred by the lack of real resistance, invaders were brazenly scouring areas in search of farms. Armed with sticks and stones and carrying “offer letters”, the mobs had intensified their land grabs.
Taffs said the farm of Kevin du Boil, who appeared in a news report on Sky Television yesterday, had since been looted. The brigadier who had forcibly occupied the farm was using soldiers to “loot” crops.
Taffs said Du Boil had called the police, but the soldiers had simply ignored them.
About 4000 white commercial farmers have been driven off their land and the remaining few hundred are under siege. More than 300000 farm workers have lost their jobs and homes.
Taffs said the government should “sort out the problem” or Zimbabweans would “starve to death”.
In addition to land invasions, a lack of funding had stifled agriculture, he said.
New black farmers who have benefited from President Robert Mugabe’s chaotic land reform have also hit a brick wall. With the government unable to raise money for seeds and fertilizers, their farming efforts have failed dismally.
“There is no funding,” said Taffs. “They do not have collateral.”
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said on the BBC’s HardTalk yesterday that the land invasions “must stop”.
The Times (SA)
Post published in: News