No farming implements
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Most small-scale farmers resettled here under President Robert Mugabe’s
chaotic land reform programme no longer have farming implements, a survey
has revealed.
19.08.1107:34am
by Tony Saxon
The small scale farmers, many of them war veterans who were resettled on the
former white owned farmers, sold all the implements they were given by the
government. The veterans, who do not have any farming expertise, have been
living on the farms without producing anything and resorted to selling the
farming implements and inputs to raise funds to buy food.
The resettled ‘farmers’ were given free hoes, disc harrows, wheel barrows
and ox-drawn ploughs.
Villagers living in the farming areas told The Zimbabwean that the resettled
farmers had fallen on hard times.
“They have not been producing anything from those farms, not even food for
their survival. Most of them have been selling the implements to various
individuals in the community to raise money for food while others sold them
for buying beer,” said one local.
Headman Zengeni confirmed that some farmers were selling the implements and
inputs.
“I have been told by my police details that there were some farmers who were
doing that. We have intensified our investigations and we are going to
present them to the District Administrator,” he said.
The Zanu (PF) government through the Ministry of Agriculture and
Mechanisation headed by Joseph Made has been distributing farming implements
and inputs every farming season to the farmers who are known supporters of
Zanu (PF) party.