Malawi offers Zimbabwe farmers land
12 October, 2011 10:32
Patrick Musira
BusinessLIVE
Malawi is trying to woo some of Zimbabwe’s white commercial farmers who were
pushed off their farms by the government’s land reform programme after 2000.
According to information at hand, Malawi hopes to harness the reputed
expertise of the farmers from Zimbabwe to jump-start that country’s
commercial agricultural sector in crops other than maize. Malawi had bumper
maize harvests in the last three years but had a reduced harvest last season
with a surplus of about 200,000 tonnes in the 2010/2011 season.
Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers’ Union president Charles Taffs said his union
had received communication from the authorities in Malawi offering land to
his members.
“The advertised land – at least 112 state farms are on offer to our former
farmers,” Taffs exclusively told BusinessLive this week, adding: “These
farms used to belong to former president Kamuzu Hastings Banda and were
repossessed by the Malawi government after his demise. Now the state wants
to lease these out and they have given us the first offer.”
“They have confidence in our skills and experience on ‘the finer points of
commercial farming and finance’ and believe we could make Malawi the
breadbasket of Africa,” he said.
“We’re very happy to be accorded such recognition,” he said. “Our farmers
enjoy doing what we do best, which is farming… Africa needs more success
stories,” he added.
Hoping Zimbabwe’s loss might be its gain, Malawi has offered at least 112
state farms to the Zimbabwean farmers to be recruited under renewable leases
in different areas of the country to boost and maintain the state’s
commercial agriculture projects.
Malawi’s economy has taken a knock after western countries – who were
financing the country’s balance of payments and budgetary support – pulled
out after differences over issues of governance, allegations of economic
mismanagement and President Bingu wa Mutharika’s strong stand against gays
marriages in the country.
Taffs said the union may help coordinate the move to Malawi if there are any
takers “but so far there aren’t any. Many still have issues here (in
Zimbabwe)”, he explained.
White Zimbabwean commercial farmers were made landless by President Mugabe’s
land reform programme, embarked upon in 2000 when government repossessed
land to ostensibly give it to landless blacks.
Many of these farmers migrated to different countries on the continent among
them Mozambique, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo to continue
their farming operations.