Opinion / Letters
All 'Cell-phone" Farmers should lose Offer Letters
28 Feb 2014 at 13:04hrs | Views
Dear Editor
The precedent case of the Mutare 'Cell-phone' farmer cum businessman Fungai Chaeruka who lost his land offer letter after Justice Nicholas Mathonsi ruled against him for underutilizing farmland is welcome and exceptionally exemplary.
Surely I feel that similar wicked farmers should lose the state land which they are underutilizing to pave way for committed farmers who have the correct focus, and the propensity to turn-around the fortunes of the declining economy. Cell-phone farmers are endangering National Food Security while we all watch. This should be curtailed immediately.
The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing "when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life". This cardinal requirement is absent in this country at the moment owing to the ill-performance of farmers who are sitting on prime productive land doing nothing.
It is Unimaginable that, Chaeruka cultivated a mere one hectare out of the vast tract of land which stretched for about 498 hectares. That is absurdity! This level of insanity should not be allowed to flourish in Zimbabwe. We need sufficient food supplies which can sustain the ever increasing population, not selfish citizens who just deduce comfort out of possessing more that what they can chew. That is filthy!
Isn't it ridiculous that we see that the nation is forced to import food like maize, wheat and rice when we have vast tracts of fertile land lying idle? Land audit aimed at auditing the real utilization of land should be conducted now so as to flush out nothing-to-do cell-phone farmers who are abusing state resources through neglect and reluctance to farm in order to feed the nation.
Maximum optimum agricultural production defines a good nation. This gives birth to a health nation that enables its citizens to work for nation building.
Let me remind my fellow countrymen that, Zimbabwe is an agrarian economy, which means that the economy is one that relies primarily on the farming industry, including livestock or crops. A farming economy can be highly stable unless there is a severe weather or climate event that prevents the normal crops from producing.
In view of the foregoing, it is imperative to rationalize the farming operations across the nation to root out useless and lazy farmers who only travel to the farm once or twice per month to check on the goings-on at the farm, or merely a phone call to check on operations. Certainly this does not make any logical sense to rescue our struggling economy.
However, I am impressed that colonial imbalances were corrected by the Land Reform Programme in which indiscriminately parceled land to blacks which previously belonged to the minority white commercial farmers. It was a successful revolution which should be completed by ensuring that all land is put to good use for national development.
Our Land is Our Economy!
Suitable Kajau
Source - Suitable Kajau
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