South West Mashonaland Report to Congress 2010

The season had a dry start but soon recouped and finished up above average at about 850mm. Late rains in early April helped grain fill, late maize and soya bean plantings. High recordings of hailstorms damaged a considerable amount of tobacco. Fifty ha out of the 270 ha in the region were a 100 % wipe out.

This has been a relatively quiet year for this region, mainly because there are so few commercial farmers left. From the Munyami river to Umnyati there is just a hand full of farmers still on their farms.

Some of these farmers are still under threat and appear in court over and over again. Others have intensified their operations on a reduced area of land.

We all longed for the US Dollar but now that it has arrived it is not what we expected. Profit margins are so small and input costs so high that land reform is no longer the farmer’s major concern. Selling assets is the most common solution to a cash flow crisis.

Short term lending at high interest rates combined with low profit margins leaves farmers in a rut of pinching from Peter to pay Paul and until we can borrow long term at reasonable interest rates we will not have financial stability. The efforts of CFU to curb this problem are appreciated. Tremendous amounts of work have been put into sourcing cheaper finance.

This is of huge concern to farmers. At $2/day any further increases will be unaffordable. The back pay is unacceptable and only a few farmers have been forced to pay as a result of labour strikes. It is time the labour laws applied to all commercial farmers and not just our sector and that includes payment of NSSA.

A few farmers are still appearing in the Magistrate court on repeated remands which are costly and time consuming. However no farmers have pleaded and so are not on trial yet.

Production levels continue to plummet for Soya beans, Citrus and wheat. While tobacco and maize have been sustained, poultry is the only commodity on the increase and seems to have a positive future.

Production levels in this region.

Large scale Tobacco – 270 ha

Soya beans – 300 ha

Citrus – 90 ha

Wheat – 150 ha

Tomatoes – 25 ha

The Commercial Farmers Union has been very active this past year, supporting its members wherever it can.

We are a Farmers Union and our primary concern must be for the farmers still farming no matter how few are left. However compensation and restitution is of great importance to many displaced farmers and the Union continues to lobby for compensation wherever possible and the Vice President’s have accomplished a tremendous amount in the last year.

The European Union funded fertilizer and vaccine programme was a welcome relief for farmers. The tremendous amount of work that was put into these two projects by the President, Director and staff is much appreciated.

The CFU Director Hendrik Olivier continues to juggle an overwhelming workload and pressure all for the benefit of the Union and its members.

To the President of the Commercial Farmers’ Union, Mr Deon Theron. This region acknowledges the sacrifices that you and Martha have made for the benefit of commercial agriculture. We appreciate all the long hours and hard work you have put into the Union. Every president and Vice President; own businesses suffer when they commit to the business of the Union but more so now that viability is so weak. Deon’s passion for agriculture and involvement in the farming community has a long history.

Vice president Charlie Taffs joined the Presidium last year like a whirl wind and continues to focus on providing a better service for its members such as cheaper finance and compensation. This region appreciates all your energy and hard work.

Vice president Louis Fick has done an incredible amount of work for the South African citizens and especially the pensioners. The benefits he has worked so hard for will hopefully be realized by elderly and destitute farmers in the near future.

Thank you to Council for the commitment they have shown to the Union especially the two Commodity Chairmen, Collin Cloete and Ajs Kirk who have had the greatest work load coordinating the fertilizer and vaccine programmes.