CFU returns to Harare Agric Show
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Commercial farmers have returned to this year’s Harare Agricultural Show,
nearly a decade after they pulled out of the annual exhibition in protest at
the state-sponsored farm invasions that began in 2000.
24.08.1111:58am
by Vusimusi Bhebhe
“We have not had a stand at the show for a number of years, for obvious
reasons, but we hope that this will now herald the start of a new beginning
for agriculture in Zimbabwe,” said a Commercial Farmers Union spokesperson.
He said participation at the Harare Show was one of the ways the CFU was
using to move forward following a turbulent 11 years, during which the
majority of its members have been dispossessed of their properties.
The CFU has been trying to engage the government to amicably resolve the
issue of outstanding compensation payments for farmers evicted from their
farms by Zanu (PF) supporters.
However, unlike during the pre-invasions era, when large-scale commercial
farmers dominated the exhibition, there were only a handful of white farmers
showing their products, mainly cattle.
The rest were small-scale farmers who have benefited from Mugabe’s chaotic
land “reform” policy.
The illegal land occupations, which saw more than 90 percent of the 4 500
former large-scale commercial farmers violently ejected from their
properties by Zanu (PF) thugs since 2000, decimated commercial agriculture.
An estimated 300 white farmers are currently engaged in farming activities
although most of them remain under threat from thuggish Zanu (PF)
hardliners, most of whom are multiple farm owners.