Grace Mugabe is spot on, farm utilisation is needed

Among the critical issues that the First Lady Amai Dr Grace Mugabe is preaching at her rallies is the need to normalise the agricultural sector, especially the optimum use of the farms acquired during the historic land reform programme. She is dead right.

The First Lady urged beneficiaries of the land reform to utilise to the maximum, the farms they possess. She also urged government to consider downsizing farms so that everybody gets a share of the cake. As blunt as she is now known for, she said some "chefs" are in ownership of multiple farms which they are not utilising.

The First Lady is spot on. The agricultural sector has to be righted so that meaningful production is realised on the farms. Zimbabwe used to be a breadbasket of the region and its economy was anchored on agriculture. That status can be restored with seriousness employed in agriculture. Farmers must be thankful for the farms they got free and the only way they can show this gratitude is by producing enough food crops for the nation and the region as a whole.

There are farmers who are holding on to farms for prestige and some have just kept the farms for their unborn descendants. I have been recently to a farm called Sherwood near Norton. That farm is just a white elephant and has been lying idle for over 10 years. Some women who took over after their husbands died own the farms. As much as we need to be compassionate with widows, that should not be at the expense of national food security.

The widows who are failing to manage the farms left behind by their deceased husbands must surrender some pieces of it so that it is allocated to serious farmers who can contribute to the national food security. Farmers who are not utilising the farms are putting the good name of the land reform into disrepute.

There have been endless talks about land audit. Cde Douglas Mombeshora must explain to the nation what became of that programme. The nation was anxiously waiting for that audit exercise for they had pinned their hopes in it. It was hoped that the landless would get some pieces of land from the excess that was to be unearthed by the land audit.

As the First Lady opined recently, the ‘Chefs' are mostly guilty of holding on to more than one farms. President Mugabe is on record saying that while the land policy on ownership used to be one-man one farm, it now must be one family one farm. It might sound frivolous to multiple farm owners but the issue of land may cause conflict in future when the landless will demand another agrarian reform.

The land issue is associated with blood as it was the only price paid to get it in 1980. A timely remedy might save a lot as the wise elders from the east said a stitch in time save nine. Remember the primary cause of the war of liberation in Zimbabwe and in many other countries is the land issue. Land is also at the centre of the contemporary conflicts in the West Africa.

Government has tried its best to empower farmers. It started with the provision of the mechanised farm equipment and loan facilities. It is now time for farmers to be weaned and stand on their own feet. In fact, the farmers must now assist government by contributing to the national fiscus.

As we are facing erratic rainfall pattern, a vibrant irrigation programme must be uppermost at the government priority list. Irrigation will ensure that farming becomes an all year round activity.  With the climatic conditions in this country coupled with power shortages, it will help if the irrigation equipment is powered by solar.

To effectively spur agriculture-led economic growth, the agricultural policies must not be one size fits all model. There are some parts of the country that are suitable for animal husbandry and they should receive appropriate assistance.  The areas which are small grains farming must just engage in keeping cattle. In other words, farmers must engage in farming activities that suit their climatic conditions.

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John Sigauke <johnsigau@gmail.com