Zim faces food crisis
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/
May 24, 2013 in Business
THIRTEEN years after its fast track land reform programme, Zimbabwe is still
importing most of its food and is far from regaining its breadbasket status.
Report by Taurai Mangudhla
Analysts have said the discordant land tenure system ushered in after the
reforms remains an albatross around the economy’s neck.
However, President Robert Mugabe appears to ignore that the country needs a
deep relook at land resettlement and the resultant unclear land tenure
system before any attempts to revive farming sustainably can bear fruit.
At the official launch of the country’s Food and Nutrition Security Policy
last week, Mugabe said implementation of the land reform programme has
become the cornerstone of ensuring food and nutrition security as the
majority of people now have access to agricultural land.
However, analysts, critics and most in the agriculture industry feel
otherwise, with Commercial Farmers Union president Charles Taffs saying a
comprehensive approach that tackles pertinent issues in respect of land
reform and a way forward is the solution to Zimbabwe’s agricultural crisis.
“The fundamentals to enable sustainable crop production are just not there,”
Taffs said.
“Why do we keep skirting the issues, we need to sit down and say what has
happened has happened and what can be corrected will be corrected, and once
we do that, all the things like manufacturing will naturally fall into
place,” he added.
According to CFU statistics, the fast track land reform programme, that
displaced most of the 4 500 white commercial farmers, had contributed to the
low agricultural output on the farms today.
CFU immediate past president Deon Theron is on record as saying the land
grabbing and subsequent displacement of productive farmers had heavily
weighed the economy down, costing the country an estimated US$12 billion as
at the end of 2011.
Theron said the figure was reached after considering farm production before
and after the land grab as well as projected foregone production.
He said the economic loss was worsened because resettled farmers had to
re-equip the farms by buying new machinery and other capital equipment to
replace vandalised assets.
Theron said Zimbabwe’s total agricultural output in 2000 was 4,3 million
tonnes valued at about US$3,5 billion, but this had plunged by 73% in 2011.
Economist John Robertson argues Zimbabwe will only have a real shot at
resuscitating its agricultural sector if it relooks at the land reform and
land tenure system. Robertson said new farmers were struggling to expand
their business as they had no access to lending facilities from banks, which
required collateral.
Financial institutions have long said they cannot use the 100-year land
leases given to farmers by government as collateral.
“We need a system that actually assists farmers get lines of credit and the
best system which has been used all over the world is to use the land which
you own and are working on as collateral,” he said.
“Unfortunately, government is saying, ‘we won’t go back to the issue of land
tenure’, but that’s the model that actually works and anything else doesn’t,”
Robertson said.
He added: “ There is no need to put water in your petrol tank because you
know that doesn’t work.”
The economist argued a food and nutrition policy alone was not enough to
turn the country’s agriculture around.
He said a host of policies that promote employment creation and industry
growth should accompany the policy.
“That one policy cannot solve all our problems, and food security and
poverty problems need policies that create employment. Policies like the
Indigenisation Act are not supportive of this, because more than anything,
indigenisation actually kills jobs,” added Robertson.
He said Zimbabwe should also adopt genetically modified organisms (GMO) to
compete on an equal footing with the global market.
Robertson’s argument is in line with the World Banks’ submission that the
country should allow farmers to grow GMO food and cash crops to greatly
enhance its yields and international competitiveness. In its Zimbabwe Growth
Recovery Notes on Agriculture, the World Bank said the move would reduce
pesticide costs and the rate of pesticide poisoning.
Bulawayo based economic analyst Eric Bloch said while the policy was silent
on land tenure, it could be mitigated by provisions in the new constitution
which will allow the 99-year land leases to act as security.
“It is a positive development that the 99-year leases can be negotiable and
used as security,” Bloch said, adding other critical enablers needed to be
addressed.
“Even if the leases will be used to access loans, financial institutions do
need money to lend so we need a general economic turn-around,” he added.
“Government should also ensure agricultural production is driven by market
forces so that farers get fair prices.”
Bloch’s call for an economic turnaround to enable banks to give funding to
farmers follows Bankers’ Association of Zimbabwe vice-president Sam Malaba’s
pronouncements last week that the banking sector is unable to provide
adequate funds to support agricultural production due to lack of long-term
lines of credit.
At the official launch of the Food and Nutrition Security Policy, Malaba
said the total deposits in the banking sector last week were about $3,8
billion, with as much as 87% being short-term transitory deposits.