Wheat farms lie derelict

nhoyi, 100km north-west of Harare, say they have measured crops produced by the beneficiaries of President Mugabe’s land-grab – and they predict that harvests will be less than five percent of the normal level. At the peak of production at this farm, it used to produce 12,000 tons of wheat and 5,200 tons of soya beans under irrigation. The war vets shut down the estate in 2001, dismantling the centre pivot for irrigation and the combine harvesters.
This land is now unproductive and ecologically damaged. Said a former farm supervisor: “I have measured what has been planted by the new farmers, and this farm will produce no more than 400 tons of maize and cotton this year.”
Nicolle was among the few commercial farmers who had their own silos. When the farm was grabbed, all the grain in storage was seized by the government.
“This year Zimbabwe will produce about 25 percent of the normal wheat crop,” said an official with Justice for Agriculture. Another farm 8km away which used to produce , 10,000 tons of maize reaped no more than a ton this past season.
On each of the scores of farms in the district that have been shut down, workers and their families far outnumbered the new “settlers”. In many cases, farm workers have been thrown out of their homes. Farmers in Chinhoyi asked The Zimbabwean not to approach the “settlers” for comment. “It will endanger our lives,” one said. Seven years ago, government supporters went on a rampage in the district, leading to the arrest of 22 farmers and businessmen and their workers. There is now a repeat of the 2000 scenario with renewed farm seizures. None of the looters and arsonists has been arrested. Shops are running out of the staple food maize, according to sources in the grain sector, and on Monday there were no chickens, cooking oil or sugar in Harare’s shops, which are better stocked than elsewhere in the country.