News / National
White farmers rent idle A2 farms
14 Jun 2015 at 11:08hrs | Views
MANY resettled farmers on A2 farms in the Matabeleland region have abandoned the land while some have opted to take the illegal route of leasing the land to white farmers or selling it and the forthcoming land audit is keenly awaited as it was expected to expose those under-utilising land
Investigations carried out by this publication revealed that a number of farms in the region had literally been abandoned by their owners, some are under-utilised while in some cases the farms are being leased to white farmers, a move that was condemned by President Mugabe.
One farm in Nyamandlovu that has now been rented out to a white farmer is located 50 kilometres along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, with farm workers in the area already identifying it using the white farmers name — Ray's Farm.
The black farmer, a Mr Mpande, is said to be renting out the piece of land to Mr Raymond Smith.
In an interview with Sunday News, Mr Smith confirmed that he was leasing the farm from Mr Mpande saying this was all through a mutual agreement
"I am renting a section of Mr Mpande's form which is the section where there is irrigation. I understand Mr Mpande got this farm years back and I simply came in to rent just a small section of the farm," said Mr Smith. A farm manager, who identified himself as Mr Ndlovu, confirmed that the farm was being rented out to Mr Smith, saying they had been working at the farm for just over a year.
"We have been working under Mr Smith for just over a year, we understand he is renting from Mr Mpande," said Mr Ndlovu.
Another farm that has since turned into a white elephant, with neighbouring farmers alleging that it had since become a breeding ground for pests, is one of the Umguza Irrigation lots owned by Mrs Shandu Gumede, who at one point was the biggest tobacco farmer in the region.
Esidakeni Estate is another farm that has gone for over 10 years without any activity. The 1 000 hectare Esidakeni Estate located in the rich Nyamandlovu farming area is owned by Mr Eddie Warambwa, who at the height of the farm's success was voted Dairy Farmer of the Year in 2001 as well as the Commercial Farmer of the Year in 2004. Mr Warambwa also became the Dairy Farmers Association vice- chairperson. Contacted for comment on the issue of under-utilised farms, Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister, who is also the Zanu-PF secretary for land reform and resettlement, Cain Mathema, said it was Government's wish that land be effectively used.
He noted that they had even got direction from President Mugabe's sentiments on land especially regarding the sizes of land and the need to ensure that people got land they would be able to effectively utilise.
"As the provincial minister, I have embarked on what I have termed the industrial revolution of the province based on farm produce, we want all the land to be effectively utilised.
"I know in some cases banks are letting the formers down by not giving them loans but this can be solved by the formers themselves coming together to form companies and I believe if they do that the banks can easily offer them the loans," said Mathema.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union Matabeleland North chairperson Mr Winston Babbage said the problem was capacity where some farmers did not have the capacity to run the farms which they were operating.
"We really welcome the upcoming land audit as it will help weed out some of these problems because we are saying it is such people who are not helping the country at all, worse at a time when President Mugabe is on the sanctions list because of the land reform
"People are simply not maintaining the standards of the infrastructure which they found at the forms, infrastructure that can also be used as collateral However, I believe formers should now form associations that will help police activities on the forms and wherever they see no activity they can simply implore re-allocation," said Mr Babbage.
Richard Moyo, the vice-chairperson of the Matabeleland North land committee, said they were waiting for direction to commence the provincial land audit but warned that formers who had either abandoned
Investigations carried out by this publication revealed that a number of farms in the region had literally been abandoned by their owners, some are under-utilised while in some cases the farms are being leased to white farmers, a move that was condemned by President Mugabe.
One farm in Nyamandlovu that has now been rented out to a white farmer is located 50 kilometres along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway, with farm workers in the area already identifying it using the white farmers name — Ray's Farm.
The black farmer, a Mr Mpande, is said to be renting out the piece of land to Mr Raymond Smith.
In an interview with Sunday News, Mr Smith confirmed that he was leasing the farm from Mr Mpande saying this was all through a mutual agreement
"I am renting a section of Mr Mpande's form which is the section where there is irrigation. I understand Mr Mpande got this farm years back and I simply came in to rent just a small section of the farm," said Mr Smith. A farm manager, who identified himself as Mr Ndlovu, confirmed that the farm was being rented out to Mr Smith, saying they had been working at the farm for just over a year.
"We have been working under Mr Smith for just over a year, we understand he is renting from Mr Mpande," said Mr Ndlovu.
Another farm that has since turned into a white elephant, with neighbouring farmers alleging that it had since become a breeding ground for pests, is one of the Umguza Irrigation lots owned by Mrs Shandu Gumede, who at one point was the biggest tobacco farmer in the region.
He noted that they had even got direction from President Mugabe's sentiments on land especially regarding the sizes of land and the need to ensure that people got land they would be able to effectively utilise.
"As the provincial minister, I have embarked on what I have termed the industrial revolution of the province based on farm produce, we want all the land to be effectively utilised.
"I know in some cases banks are letting the formers down by not giving them loans but this can be solved by the formers themselves coming together to form companies and I believe if they do that the banks can easily offer them the loans," said Mathema.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union Matabeleland North chairperson Mr Winston Babbage said the problem was capacity where some farmers did not have the capacity to run the farms which they were operating.
"We really welcome the upcoming land audit as it will help weed out some of these problems because we are saying it is such people who are not helping the country at all, worse at a time when President Mugabe is on the sanctions list because of the land reform
"People are simply not maintaining the standards of the infrastructure which they found at the forms, infrastructure that can also be used as collateral However, I believe formers should now form associations that will help police activities on the forms and wherever they see no activity they can simply implore re-allocation," said Mr Babbage.
Richard Moyo, the vice-chairperson of the Matabeleland North land committee, said they were waiting for direction to commence the provincial land audit but warned that formers who had either abandoned
Source - sundaynews
