Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe

Commercial Farmers' Union of Zimbabwe

***The views expressed in the articles published on this website DO NOT necessarily express the views of the Commercial Farmers' Union.***

CFU Calling 12 February 2010

cfucalling

cfucalling

12 FEBRUARY 2010

 

EXECUTIVE NEWS

 

This week saw another blatantly racial action by our Government with the publishing of the Statutory Instrument 21 of 2010, Indigenous and Economic Empowerment (General) Regulations, 2010, dated 29 January 2010 but which are only due to come into force on 1 March 2010.

 

This is coupled with the Indigenous and Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33], Act 14 of 2007, both of which are available on our website www.cfuzim.org under the category “The Law, Acts and Statutory Instruments”.

 

The new regulations were brought in under the powers of the relevant minister and do not have to necessarily be passed through Parliament. We have expressed our extreme concern over the abuse of our rights under the Constitution of Zimbabwe through the correct channels and our legal advisors are currently examining the documents with the view of giving us an opinion and advice on how to deal with the matter. We will advise accordingly as soon as the opinion has been received.

 

It seems that a lot of our farmer’s business is being carried out in the courts these days due to the apparent lack of assistance through any other means. At the end of January the 3 Chipinge farmers who had been evicted by the court following a lengthy prosecution under the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act were granted a successful application for a Stay of execution of their eviction. Although granted the farmers have still been unable to re-occupy their homes and massive looting has taken place on one of the properties where the owners were unable to remove their goods and equipment as initially ordered by the Chipinge Magistrates Court.

 

This has meant a return to the court this week to apply for the eviction of the people who were now occupying and looting their home and business. This urgent application was delayed and although the judgment is due out today it has now only been set for Monday.

 

Further to this the Attorney General thought it necessary to challenge the Stay Order, the success of which would have set a dangerous precedent and remove several other farmers who are still on their properties waiting for the final outcome of their appeals on their conviction and sentence under the Gazetted Land (Consequential Provisions) Act. Fortunately the Judge did not grant the Attorney-General his application and the case was dismissed.

 

We have all been extremely busy with numerous meetings which were held this week, both in-house and outside. The first meeting this week was the meeting of your CFU Council, which was attended by all councillors. Although the time allowed was a bit restricted due to the open farmers’ meeting in the afternoon the meeting was considered extremely productive indeed.

 

Past President Doug Taylor-Freeme briefed Council on his work as President of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU). He did point out that although he constantly promotes the aims and objectives of the CFU and its members at his meetings indirectly he is ultimately responsible for matters concerning issues involving all 11 members from the 14 SADC countries. He said that the CFU President has a seat on SACAU and it is he who is the main representative the interests of the Union.

 

He said that in the 90s SACAU was a very loose arrangement of Unions who occasionally got together for casual chats, which slowly grew through the necessity of a structure through which World Trade Organisation issues could be voiced and discussed.

 

He praised Neil Wright for the enormous role which he plays in developing policy directives and for Kuda Ndoro who represents the interests of Zimbabwean farmers on the World Trade organisation meetings. Although a lot of their work is unseen in the public sphere it is of huge significance for farmers in this country and the region as a whole.

 

The main issue under discussion is how to improve production and all finance being put towards the various unions in the region is aimed to at least a return of USD 1.50 for every USD 1 which is donated. There is a huge need for agriculture related information but the problem is how to distribute it widely. Information on conservation in agriculture is available but financing it is the difficulty. There is cooperation from a Swedish fund, the International Fund for Agricultural Investment and the Bill Gates Foundation who are assisting.

 

The question at hand in the international community is how to feed the people of the World in 2050. As an example, the Chinese have some 300 million farmers on a finite piece of land but should the numbers of farmers be doubled to 600 million to feed the growing population the farms would have to shrink at a time when they should in fact be larger.

 

One of Doug’s current interests is how to draw finance back into agriculture in the region and Africa, where our Government’s bad policies are such a bad example. He was recently flown by the African Development Bank to Tunisia where he was able to discuss low interest loans which farmers need to have long periods to repay. The international communities who are willing to fund insist on due diligence to ensure that the funds are handles correctly.

 

This coming Friday he will be meeting at the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) in Rome, where he will be meeting with agricultural leaders from all over the world and the week after that with COMESA to work out a Comprehensive Development Program for Africa – CADAP.

 

He said that there is not enough being done in our vision as we are ideal to bring order back to agriculture where we need to act as a platform as a balance in agriculture. Unfortunately the Ministry of Agriculture is trying to sneak through with various unfair practices.

 

His next trip will be to Botswana where it is intended that SACAU sign a moue with COMESA, which is a larger regional body. IFAP is in fact the ‘big brother’ of SACAU which represents the interests of some 600 million in 200 countries. Doug is on the Southern Africa Board and is Vice President of the Africa Committee as well as being on the Executive Committee through which he is in an ideal position to work on the finance required for the recovery process. 

 

Further information on the work carried out by both SACAU and IFAP are available on our website under the “Affiliated Unions” category.

 

Report from councillors indicated wide variations in rainfall over all districts but more specifically that all precipitation was very patchy. The most consistent rain was received in the north of the country with the south and east of the country receiving the least. In fact conditions are already becoming desperate in those southern parts of the country with most crops in areas below Masvingo are a write-off.

 

At Council the Director said that although we have already passed last year’s membership level there were a large number who had taken advantage of the lowest category of fees, which has an adverse affect on our projected budgets. Although we are in a position where we had a favourable audit of our STABEX funding he insisted that we work towards being self-sufficient in the near future – and particularly before the end of the forthcoming tranche. The various chairmen were therefore given specific targets on attracting new or renewed membership.

 

Our legal costs have been extremely high and there was discussion and debate on the possibilities of either asking members to pay a second tranche or sending out an appeal for donations for the establishment of a legal fund. The idea of a second tranche was turned down because it was felt that it was always the same people who were funding the Union whereas we are keeping the Union going which is, after all, representing the whole previous 4 500 membership, whether farming or not or in the country or out. Various ways were discussed on how to initiate a membership drive which would appeal to everyone to support the union again and become members. If each of the current members brought in at least one other member this would go a long way.

 

On labour issues it was brought to our notice that NEC had recently held their AGM and a new board had been elected. Our position with this board was discussed as it was also suggested that we reclaim the old ALB, which had been taken over by political elements. Wage increases and back payments are still a contentious issue, which need to be resolved as some ridiculous statements had recently been made on the subjects.

 

With regard to ZINWA overcharging several farmers were threatened to be taken to court, possibly in the hope of a default judgment. However once challenged no counter argument has been offered. It is essential that affected farmers do not back down and simply bow to negotiated terms of payment for some of the outrageous charges being levied by other bodies for their services, as they can in most cases be found to be totally incorrect and may be adjusted.

 

The Valuation Consortium and the Union have signed a M.O.U to represent farmers on their database.  We are also working extremely closely together to ensure that every single property is captured on their database for valuation. Whilst undergoing another exercise in the Union this week it was found that there are still a huge number of farms not recorded on their database. We encourage everyone to do so as quickly as possible.

 

President Theron then gave Council an update of current events, which was followed by a closed session in which various sensitive issues were debated including a way forward under the current situation.

 

In a report back on the South African Farmer’s Group it was pointed out to the South African Embassy that the largest group of those registered are over the age of 60 and many were in a desperate situation. An appeal was made to therefore meet with the South African Minister of Social Welfare through whom the situation of their desperate plight explained. As it turns out there is a strong possibility of meeting with someone of much higher authority in the near future.

 

Later in the week presentations were made to both the SADC heads of mission and the European Commission heads of mission in separate meetings.

 

Following the Council meeting there was an open meeting for farmers which was well attended and attracted some stimulating debate. At this meeting the various heads of departments had a chance to speak and explain their varying roles within the structures, which clearly showed that your Union represents all groups of farmers, whether farming or not.

 

Our charismatic NADF Chairman Ajs Kirk had the meeting in stitches about the 4 point ZESA saga, which is best only to hear from his own mouth. He covered the following on ZESA:

 

·         On the farm itself ZESA is necessary for milking and refrigeration – generators too expensive

 

·         At the milk processing plants and factories – ZESA

 

·         At the supermarkets the farmers are told to collect the returns of sour products – ZESA

 

·         In the homes the milk goes sour as fridges often don’t work – ZESA

 

He was also pushing his fresh milk against UHT which he says kills the enzymes which gives us the ability to digest lactose and calcium. He said his job was to concentrate on production as the more people employed the more people to buy his product. He has left the politics to Deon who he said was more highly qualified to deal with.

 

Colin Cloete said at the Crops AGM that he was one of the only 4 producers to attend, which put him back in the chair. He predicted some of the lowest crops ever due to farmer’s uncertainty and much reduced hectareages planted. He felt that perhaps cropping would now be for the corporates who may be able to accumulate larger areas.

 

There were questions on alleged excessive imports of chickens and other commodities which were undercutting producer viability. Imports are unfortunately necessary due to the shortage of many locally produced goods but we are aware of illegal imports coming over and above the agreed amounts. Unfortunately as Zimbabwean producers we are now subject to real world prices since we dollarized. 

 

Marc then touched on the Constitution, which is currently on hold and which stimulated some interesting debate. He then advised those present on how to deal with the excessive charges from the various essential services.

 

The Director then touched on the services of the Union and how we assist our members and in particular our current legal strategy. Louis Fick covered the South African farmer’s issues and Charles Taffs covered the compensation issue.

 

Dawie Joubert, who had recently been released from prison in Mutare, gave a rundown of events which led to his incarceration and what his lawyers are now hoping to achieve. He also thanked everyone for their support.

 

President Theron then summed up and thanked all those who made the effort to attend.

 

FIT had their Annual General Meeting on Thursday afternoon which was open to members of FIT and all displaced commercial farmers.  The meeting was well attended with a turnout of excess of 75 people.

 

 

After some discussion and a vote, it was decided to change the name of FIT to ARAC – Agricultural Recovery and Compensation. It was acknowledged that the organization has been largely ineffective in representing farmers off the land.  It was felt that it was essential to rebrand and restructure FIT in order to ensure that it achieves its aims effectively.

 

There was also election of Office Bearers and the new Committee Members are:   

Peter Steyl

                                                            Richard Brooker

                                                            Ian Gibson

                                                            Richard Harvey

                                                            Jim Barker

                                                            Dave Bouma

                                                            Rod Swales

                                                            Wynand Hart

                                                            Barry Munro

                                                            Chris Shepherd

 

There will be a Committee Meeting next week to vote the Chairman in and discuss the structure that was agreed on at the AGM.

 

Mr Graham Mullett from Valcon gave a presentation updating us on the work of the Valuation Consortium.  He mentioned that the Valcon data base now included some 3800 properties.  If you are a dispossessed farmer and have not registered your property please get in touch with the Valuation Consortium and explore options.

 

If you have any queries or comments please do not hesitate to contact Shayne Wells at the ARAC Offices in the CFU Building, on tel: 309800 – 19 ext 249

 

COMMODITY UPDATE

 

ZIMBABWE CROP PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION (from the desk of Richard Taylor)

 

Some interesting figures

 

Barley: 32,500t received by Delta. Delta only required 30,000t so will be exporting 2,500t. The Barley insurance policy was not subscribed to by growers.

 

Wheat: Figures received from traders are that our total wheat crop amounted to 18,500t

 

Maize: If we go with the fertilizer sales of compound D then the country should at 1.5 ton per ha, achieve 700,000tonnes of maize this year. However that is not to say that all the comp D has gone onto maize. Commercial farmers at a yield of 5 t/ha should produce between 250,000-300,000t this season. 

Interesting is that the seed companies have sold enough seed to produce 1,400,000tonnes. However if one looks at some of the huge sales to certain individuals, then one can only assume that seed has gone elsewhere. Last year’s country average was 1.2tonnes/ha.

 

From the FAO Crop Prospects and Food Situation Reports, Zimbabwe Cereal Imports were:

 

2008                                                                             2009

Commercial                   Food aid                                    Commercial                   Food aid

Purchases                                                                      Purchases

501,400t                        286,600t                                    728,100t                        285,100t

 

2010 Predictions

Commercial                   Food aid                                   

Purchases                                                                     

?                                   690,000t

 

Stabex Fertilizer:  As of Tuesday all that was outstanding for collection was 7t.

 

I trust that crops have survived, are looking good and yields will be high. Please accept my apology as Pam is away and I have not got the updated commodity prices.

 

Local as at 05 February 2010 US$ 

graph 1

 

South African Foreign Exchange (SAFEX) as at 05 February 2010

graph 2

 

International Gulf

graph 3

 Source: South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS)

 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DAIRY FARMERS (from the desk of Rob Van Vuuren)

 

NADF is holding an Executive Committee Meeting on 24 February 2010.  Should you have any queries or issues, please approach your Regional Chairman and these can be discussed at the meeting.

 

VACCINE PROGRAMME

 

The fifth draw down order of vaccines has now been received from Onderstepoort Biological Products in Pretoria.  Some of these vaccines are being transported to Bulawayo this week and Matabeleland farmers will be able to obtain their vaccines from Front Line Farming Fivet in Bulawayo.  PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT FRONT LINE FARMING FIVET HAVE LIMITED CAPACITY TO STORE LARGE QUANTITIES OF VACCINES, SO PLEASE DO CHECK THAT THEY HAVE SUFFICIENT STOCKS TO MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS.  Their address is 14th Avenue, Bulawayo and their contact details are as follows:  (09) 76324/5 or 0912 213 436 or 011 410 042 or they can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected].

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL VACCINE APPLICATIONS MUST STILL BE PROCESSED IN THE USUAL WAY THROUGH THE NADF OFFICES IN HARARE. 

 

Please could farmers also note that with IMMEDIATE EFFECT applicants who have their vaccine order approved will have SEVEN (7) days from date of issue of the Vaccine Drawdown Authorisation Form to COLLECT THE FORM FROM NADF AND VACCINES FROM FIVET ANIMAL HEALTH, after which their allocation will be CANCELLED and a new application form will be required.  This is to facilitate Fivet with limited refrigeration space and will get the vaccines moving quickly out to the country so that more drawdown orders can be received from OPB in Pretoria.

 

In addition, for vaccine orders that require payment, payment MUST be made in FULL before vaccines will be released by FIVET – HARARE or FRONT LINE FARMING FIVET – BULAWAYO.  Failure to pay will result in the entire order being cancelled.

 

These steps are not unreasonable as delays in collection of vaccines are causing problems with monitoring stock levels and therefore vaccine availability.

 

CATTLE PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION

 

WEEKLY CATTLE PRICES

graph 4 

 

 

FARMERS’ IN TOUCH (from the desk of Pete Steyl)

 

FIT had their Annual General Meeting on Thursday afternoon which was open to members of FIT and all displaced commercial farmers.  The meeting was well attended with a turnout of excess of 75 people.

 

After some discussion and a vote, it was decided to change the name of FIT to ARAC – Agricultural Recovery and Compensation. It was acknowledged that the organization has been largely ineffective in representing farmers off the land.  It was felt that it was essential to rebrand and restructure FIT in order to ensure that it achieves its aims effectively.

 

There was also election of Office Bearers and the new Committee Members are:   

Ø  Peter Steyl

Ø  Richard Brooker

Ø  Ian Gibson

Ø  Richard Harvey

Ø  Jim Barker

Ø  Dave Bouma

Ø  Rod Swales

Ø  Wynand Hart

Ø  Barry Munro

Ø  Chris Shepherd

 

There will be a Committee Meeting next week to vote the Chairman in and discuss the structure that was agreed on at the AGM.

 

Mr Graham Mullett from Valcon gave a presentation updating us on the work of the Valuation Consortium.  He mentioned that the Valcon data base now included some 3800 properties.  If you are a dispossessed farmer and have not registered your property please get in touch with the Valuation Consortium and explore options.

 

If you have any queries or comments please do not hesitate to contact Shayne Wells at the ARAC Offices in Agriculture House, Commercial Farmers’ Union on 309800 – 19 ext 249 or via email [email protected]

 

COMMENTS AND VIEWS

Please let us know your comments and views on items contained within this issue or any other issues of CFU Calling by sending an email to us on [email protected]Disclaimer: This email and files transmitted with it contain confidential and privileged information and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please — do not read, disseminate, distribute, copy or take action in reliance on this email and- delete it immediately and arrange for the deletion thereof on your server, and- notify the administrator immediately. Any unauthorised, use duplication or interception of this e-mail or any files transmitted with it is expressly and strictly prohibited. No representation, guarantee or undertaking (expressed or implied) is made or given- As to the confidentiality or security of the e-mail system’ or as to the accuracy of the information in this email and any files transmitted with it is virus-free. No responsibility or liability is accepted for: the proper, complete transmission of the information contained in this email or any files transmitted with it or any delay in its receipt; or rising from or as a result of the use of or reliance on the content of this email or any files transmitted with it. Any views expressed in this email or any files transmitted with it are not necessarily the views of the Commercial Farmers’ Union. Queries regarding this email or any files transmitted with it should be directed to [email protected]. This disclaimer forms part of the content of this e-mail for purposes of section 11 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 2002 (Act No. 25 of 2002). 

 

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