Manicaland coffee production plunges
Sunday, 24 June 2012 11:38
BY CLAYTON MASEKESA
MUTARE — The chaotic land reform programme has resulted in a plunge in
coffee production in Zimbabwe, an official from the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has said. Speaking at the Mutare Press Club
recently, a senior official with CZI, Henry Nemaire, attributed the plunge
to the fact that beneficiaries of the land reform programme had no technical
skills in coffee farming.
“Coffee production in Manicaland has dropped from 7 000 tonnes to 500 tonnes
per year,” said Nemaire.
“This was mainly caused by the fact that those who took over coffee farming
did not have any technical skills in coffee farming. I am not against the
land reform programme, but we are against the idea that the farmers who took
over were not trained in coffee production.”
Nemaire, whose presentation centred on the business analysis in Manicaland,
said it was sad to note that coffee growers in the province used to grow 300
hectares but the hectarage had plummeted to 12.
“The other contributing factor that also resulted in the reduction of coffee
production is the fact that those who were trained in coffee farming left
the country and offered their services elsewhere,” he said.
“The coffee industry suffered a huge brain-drain that resulted in some
coffee commercial farms failing to produce.”
The agricultural sector was the major casualty of the fast-track land reform
programme which was spearheaded by war veterans in 2000.