A pilot study in Masvingo last month by the Zimbabwe Liberation Platform (ZLP) on the impact of the fast track programme on war veterans’ livelihoods revealed that only 18 percent of the farmland is being put to use – mostly for maize and sugar production.
Poor support from government was blamed as the main problem. “The gains that have been made by new farmers have been done so with almost no support from the state or government, and the war veterans in this study attest to this situation … the majority of the sample found farming very difficult and securing livelihood problematic,” reads the report.
Because of a combination of physical factors such as aridity and difficulties in tilling the land, 60 percent of the farmers attested to being food insecure, and 40 percent said they relied on pensions and remittances for survival. Forty percent said the land reform programme was unsuccessful, and 45 percent said they would leave the land if offered alternative forms of livelihood.
“A number of those interviewed said they had invested all their income and spare capital in the farm, and that, even if they wanted to leave, they had no resources to do so. In essence, they felt trapped on the land with little hope of making it productive,” said ZLP. “ If the state was to offer these people some return for the land they currently occupy, land could be made available for others to farm or lease.”
Post published in: Agriculture