Negative perception that black farmers are not productive was proven wrong: Mugabe

Of late, Zimbabwe's remarkable economic growth, largely through the agricultural sector, has proven that black farmers are as productive as white commercial farmers.

President Robert Mugabe said the perception that black people were not as productive as white commercial farmers was proven wrong.

He said emphasis had been given on cash crop and main crop that were required for food production for the people, as well as tobacco, a major export of the African country.

"They are the main players in the agricultural programme. That means, we are as productive as them (white commercial farmers), whether big or small farmers," he told Bernama on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) here Saturday to attend the three-day LID 2011 in Putrajaya.

Mugabe was commenting on Zimbabwe's nine per cent growth last year, despite the ongoing sanctions imposed by the West in 2002 and the hardship endured over the past decade.

Zimbabwe's economy is estimated to maintain a nine per cent growth for the second consecutive year after merely recording a six per cent growth in 2009.

The inflation rate last year was only 3.5 per cent after experiencing hyperinflation, a few years ago. Zimbabwe is the first country in the 21st century to hyper-inflate.

In 2000, Mugabe launched land reforms to hand back land to the landless black people from the minority white settlers who had grabbed it during the colonial rule.

The sanctions were imposed as punishment for Zimbabwe's alleged human rights abuses and its land reform and re-distribution programme which Zimbabwe said was important to correct the injustices inflicted upon the majority black people by the minority whites.

Mugabe said, another important sector that contributed to the economic growth was mining where the country was estimated to have a quarter of the world's known diamond reserves.

"Thank, God... this shows the British that we have other minerals like diamond, platinum and uranium...perhaps, we continue to discover more and these had helped (the economic growth)," he added.

He said, however, the manufacturing sector had declined, and this was being addressed.

He said, in order to ensure the success of the economic transformation, there was a need to add value to the primary products.

Chiding the West for the sanctions, he said the West tried to reverse the gains of the economic revolution.

Citing Libya where western countries were attacking the North African country, Mugabe said:

"You can see what is happening in North Africa, and North Africa is not happy at all with all those attacks," he said.

Mugabe was also asked to comment on a study led by a group of academicians, which among others, had stated that the land given to the Zimbabwean people did not predominantly go to his friends as the Western media had portrayed all these years.

"How can land just go to Mugabe's friends and relatives? My friends are my people and those are the people who fought with us to drive out the British... therefore, the beneficiaries.

"Anyway, the land belonged to the people...we have a customary system of chiefs in various areas, and chiefs being custodians of lands in various areas on behalf of the people. We have maintained that all land is state land," he said.