“We have not had a stand at the show for a number of years, for obvious reasons, but we hope that this will now herald the start of a new beginning for agriculture in Zimbabwe,” said a Commercial Farmers Union spokesperson.
He said participation at the Harare Show was one of the ways the CFU was using to move forward following a turbulent 11 years, during which the majority of its members have been dispossessed of their properties.
The CFU has been trying to engage the government to amicably resolve the issue of outstanding compensation payments for farmers evicted from their farms by Zanu (PF) supporters.
However, unlike during the pre-invasions era, when large-scale commercial farmers dominated the exhibition, there were only a handful of white farmers showing their products, mainly cattle.
The rest were small-scale farmers who have benefited from Mugabe’s chaotic land “reform” policy.
The illegal land occupations, which saw more than 90 percent of the 4 500 former large-scale commercial farmers violently ejected from their properties by Zanu (PF) thugs since 2000, decimated commercial agriculture.
An estimated 300 white farmers are currently engaged in farming activities although most of them remain under threat from thuggish Zanu (PF) hardliners, most of whom are multiple farm owners.
Post published in: Agriculture
What do you mean commercial farmers pulled out “in protest”? Wake up man, they were being murdered. The Harare Show had become a fools’ paradise.