ARDA sold tractors for $30 - Parliament is told

Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) reportedly auctioned tractors acquired from Iran for as little as $30 while over 33 000 head of cattle has been reduced to 1 300.

ARDA is said to have had a fleet of 428 tractors bought through a government to government arrangement with Iran.

However, a joint committee sittings of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture and Rural Development and State Enterprises and Parastatals committee on Tuesday said a when they visited several ARDA premises they discovered the scam.

The committee said n 2010, there were 30 000 cattle, a figure which did not tally with what was on the ground during the MPs tours.

However, the board under Basil Nyabadza denied the assert stripping allegations saying between 1997 and 2009 there were 33 026 head of cattle occupying 357 294 hectares of land.

Nyabadza said some of the tractors went to agricultural colleges and some allocated to individuals by government.