HARARE President Robert Mugabe Addressing supporters at the close of the Zanu (PF) national congress on December 12, Mugabe lambasted Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirais MDC-T party for allegedly trying to torpedo preparations for the 2009/10 season.
He singled out Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also the MDC-Ts secretary general, of withholding US$510 million allocated to Zimbabwe by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) three months ago while farmers struggle to secure inputs for the season. The veteran leader, who survived a party rebellion during the congress, accused Biti of holding the nation to ransom by refusing to approve the use of the IMF money at a time he has failed to secure alternative funding for the agriculture sector. But the UK proved the Zimbabwean leader wrong by revealing last week that London had, in partnership with the EU, recently donated millions of dollars worth of seed and fertilisers to communal farmers.
“The UK has provided a huge volume of assistance to smallholders across Zimbabwe. 685 000 householders will be provided with substantial support from the donor community, including fertiliser, seeds and other inputs, British ambassador to Zimbabwe Mark Canning said in a statement to The Zimbabwean On Sunday last week. The UK has a large programme to provide agriculture inputs of seeds and fertiliser to smallholder farmers across the country to help them grow more food for next years harvest. The donor community in total has this year provided agriculture support to covers 50 percent of all smallholder farmers.
The UKs Protracted Relief Programme, a US$88 million five-year programme aimed at securing livelihoods, reaches the majority of the targeted households. About 717 000 smallholder farmer households in Zimbabwes communal lands also received seed and fertilizer assistance from donors for the 2009/10 cropping season. The EU Delegation to Zimbabwe provided for 176 000 of these households, spending more than 15.4 million or US$22.2 million on 22 500 tonnes of fertilizer and 2 200 tonnes of maize seeds. The EU targets to provide 25 percent of the countrys cereal requirement for the 2009/10 marketing season. A further 14 500 tonnes of basal and top dressing fertilizer valued at 3.1 million or US$4.5 million were allocated by UPT to the Zimbabwe Farmers Unions, Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union and Commercial Farmers Union this year.
The UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation, through its conservation agriculture project, donated 500 tonnes of fertilizers worth 3 million or US$4 million to Zimbabwean communal farmers. Total fertilizer input supported by the EU this year was 37 500 tonnes, which benefited around 200 000 local farmers. Western donors chipped in with total inputs assistance to farmers of more than US$73 million during the current season, of which a substantial part is supplied by the EU. In addition to the agricultural inputs scheme, the UK has also given
U$6.7 million to the World Food Programme in Zimbabwe to help provide food to hundreds of thousands of hungry people. Dave Fish, head of the UKs aid programme to Zimbabwe said: The UK has given US$6.7 million for food aid that will help reach 1.8 million of the poorest and most vulnerable Zimbabweans in the lean months ahead. This is part of the UKs total aid package of US$100 million this year, which Fish said was his governments largest ever aid programme here in Zimbabwe. So I’m not sure where those who claim there’s been no support get their facts. The help has been substantial and widespread and is to be seen in all parts of the country,” Canning said. During Tsvangirais visit to London in June, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced additional aid for food security and education. British funds support a comprehensive set of humanitarian and development programmes that save lives, livelihoods and build the foundations for future growth.
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