Zim harvests lagging behind
23/12/2004 14:32  - (SA)  

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Harare - Farmers, many of them black Zimbabweans resettled on formerly white-owned properties, have so far plowed and prepared only one quarter of the land available for planting for next year's food harvests, the state media reported on Thursday.

Local Government Minister Ignatious Chombo, head of a panel state officials reviewing land preparations, said slightly less than one million hectares, out of an estimated four million hectares, have been tilled during current seasonal rains.

He blamed the slow pace of preparation on shortages of fertilizer, tractors and mechanical equipment and urged farmers to increase the amount manual labour and animal-drawn plows, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported.

The newspaper quoted Agriculture Ministry official Shadreck Mlambo as saying tillage lagged far behind its targets for the time of year.

"And time is fast running out," he said.

The government has acknowledged that a fleet of state-owned tractors used to help impoverished farmers has been hit by continuous breakdowns and spare parts shortages.

Of 700 tractors deployed by one government agency, only 304 were operating.

Acute shortages of petrol

Farmers have also suffered acute shortages of petrol.

Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, plunged into its worst political and economic crisis after President Robert Mugabe's government seized more than 5 000 of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks and ruling party officials in 2000.

The often-violent land reform programme, combined with erratic rains, have crippled the nation's agriculture-based economy.

Inflation is running at 149%, the highest in the world.

The government argues redistribution of land was needed to correct colonial-era injustices in land ownership by the descendants of mostly British settlers.

Government officials routinely insist the programme has not affected food production and the country has grown a surplus this year.

But United Nations estimates put the expected total harvest this year at around one million tons of grain, mostly the corn staple, that is about half the country's needs.

Last year, nearly half of Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people needed food aid.

A UN-led assessment group estimates that as many as five million Zimbabweans will need help again before the next harvest begins in March.

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