Dr Made

Agriculture Reporter—
The Commercial Farmers Union has secretly written a constitution to form a Federation of Agricultural Unions but other farmers’ unions have rejected the merger because they have no common interests with the all-white union. The CFU wanted the demise of all farmers unions and have them merged into the Federation of Agricultural Unions with the union’s chief executive Mr Hendrik Olivier saying that they had drafted the constitution and set up a technical committee towards merging.

The CFU has been part of MDC-T’s illegal regime change agenda and a fierce critic of land reform over the past 14 years. Its move to form a single union has been viewed as an act of seeking relevance and an avenue through which its members can clandestinely return.

But the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union and the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union said even if they wanted to form a single union they would do it without involving the CFU.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made last week professed ignorance over the proposed merger.
“No union has indicated to the ministry that it wants to be struck off the register. The farmers unions were formed under an Act of Parliament and they should indicate that they want to dissolve their unions and form another body,” said Minister Made.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice president Mr Berean Mukwende said although they worked with CFU on some projects, this was not an indication that the two unions could form a federation.

“We are not forming any federation. We have some things in common but we differ on the land issue as most of our members benefited from the land.
“Some of the hardliners within the CFU always talk of the need for Government to compensate them for the land and developments but we are the beneficiaries of that land and we will never agree,” he said.

Mr Mukwende said CFU was made up of commercial farmers while the ZFU had communal and A1 farmers as the majority of its members and there was no urgent need for the two parties to merge.

“We have never sat as farmers unions to discuss the merger. We agree on technical issues, marketing of commodities and others, but the land issue remains a barrier.”
CFU chief executive Mr Olivier said the federation would give farmers the opportunity to work together towards a common cause despite some differences.
“There is a technical committee looking at how we can bring the unions together in terms of a federation. There are some imbalances in the land reform that we need to address,” he said.

“We need to tidy up what has happened to our constituency, bringing the land reform to a conclusion in terms of compensation. People have never been compensated despite others thinking they have been paid.”

Mr Olivier said it was time for farmers to unite and speak with one voice under one agricultural union.
“In Zambia there is only one union, the Zambia National Farmers Union where we are also getting guide from”, he said.

“We cannot have several unions in one country, but should have one that represents both small scale and large scale farmers.”
But ZNFU vice president Mr Garikayi Msika said despite coming up with the constitution, CFU had not approached them for the merger.

“This is news, especially the fact that the proposal is coming from CFU when it should be the other way round. It should be ZFU, ZCFU and ZNFU approaching CFU since they are the major unions who have high farmer representations,” he said.

ZCFU president Mr Wonder Chabikwa also said they were not part to the proposed single union.

Dr Made

Agriculture Reporter—
The Commercial Farmers Union has secretly written a constitution to form a Federation of Agricultural Unions but other farmers’ unions have rejected the merger because they have no common interests with the all-white union. The CFU wanted the demise of all farmers unions and have them merged into the Federation of Agricultural Unions with the union’s chief executive Mr Hendrik Olivier saying that they had drafted the constitution and set up a technical committee towards merging.

The CFU has been part of MDC-T’s illegal regime change agenda and a fierce critic of land reform over the past 14 years. Its move to form a single union has been viewed as an act of seeking relevance and an avenue through which its members can clandestinely return.

But the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union and the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union said even if they wanted to form a single union they would do it without involving the CFU.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made last week professed ignorance over the proposed merger.
“No union has indicated to the ministry that it wants to be struck off the register. The farmers unions were formed under an Act of Parliament and they should indicate that they want to dissolve their unions and form another body,” said Minister Made.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union vice president Mr Berean Mukwende said although they worked with CFU on some projects, this was not an indication that the two unions could form a federation.

“We are not forming any federation. We have some things in common but we differ on the land issue as most of our members benefited from the land.
“Some of the hardliners within the CFU always talk of the need for Government to compensate them for the land and developments but we are the beneficiaries of that land and we will never agree,” he said.

Mr Mukwende said CFU was made up of commercial farmers while the ZFU had communal and A1 farmers as the majority of its members and there was no urgent need for the two parties to merge.

“We have never sat as farmers unions to discuss the merger. We agree on technical issues, marketing of commodities and others, but the land issue remains a barrier.”
CFU chief executive Mr Olivier said the federation would give farmers the opportunity to work together towards a common cause despite some differences.
“There is a technical committee looking at how we can bring the unions together in terms of a federation. There are some imbalances in the land reform that we need to address,” he said.

“We need to tidy up what has happened to our constituency, bringing the land reform to a conclusion in terms of compensation. People have never been compensated despite others thinking they have been paid.”

Mr Olivier said it was time for farmers to unite and speak with one voice under one agricultural union.
“In Zambia there is only one union, the Zambia National Farmers Union where we are also getting guide from”, he said.

“We cannot have several unions in one country, but should have one that represents both small scale and large scale farmers.”
But ZNFU vice president Mr Garikayi Msika said despite coming up with the constitution, CFU had not approached them for the merger.

“This is news, especially the fact that the proposal is coming from CFU when it should be the other way round. It should be ZFU, ZCFU and ZNFU approaching CFU since they are the major unions who have high farmer representations,” he said.

ZCFU president Mr Wonder Chabikwa also said they were not part to the proposed single union.