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Zim hands out ox-drawn carts
08/10/2007 22:06 - (SA)
Chris Muronzi
Harare - Zimbabwe has handed out 50 000 ox-drawn ploughs to communal farmers to lift agricultural output but still needs donkeys and ox to complete the mission, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said.
Mugabe remained largely jovial throughout his televised speech marking the presentation of the second phase of a mechanisation programme which is supposed to help turnaround the troubled southern African country's agricultural fortunes.
Mugabe's "mechanisation programme", an effort to empower new farmers with state-of-the-art tractors and combine harvesters and other mechanised farming equipment, was greeted overwhelmingly by supporters and farmers alike.
He said: "As farmers you also have to grow food for the nation and not for your stomachs so that as a country we have enough to feed ourselves and surplus for export so that we can earn foreign currency for use in our businesses. This programme is meant to increase production in farms."
Mugabe also urged farmers to work harder and transform Zimbabwe into a land of plenty so that the country does not remain the laughing stock it has become.
Under the "mechanisation programme" that started a few months ago, Zimbabwe has imported close to 1 000 tractors, 50 000 animal-drawn ploughs, 70 000 animal-drawn harrows,1 000 animal-drawn planters and several combine harvesters which will be handed out to farmers in due course.
"Although hoes are good and we need them at our homesteads from time to time, the time has now come for much more sophisticated machinery so that we can increase volumes of the crop that we grow," he added.
Mugabe also warned businesses to desist from overpricing saying he is willing to fight them.
He jokingly said that although he is 84 years old, he still can pack a mean jab while warning defiant firms that they might not be in the fight for long.
In June, he ordered a blanket 50% price cut of all goods, an announcement which triggered massive shortages of basics.
Mugabe says the "mechanisation programme" will benefit every Zimbabwean but his critics say his confidantes in government and Zanu-PF will benefit the most.
The aged leader sanctioned wanton invasion of white-owned farms several years ago for redistribution to landless blacks.
However, the controversial land reform programme ended up benefiting Mugabe's henchman and allies at the expense of ordinary people.
And as a result of the farm invasions, agriculture has been run down.
Now, a third of the country's population is said to be facing possible starvation according to the World Food Programme.
The country is in its eighth year of economic crisis characterised by high inflation now close to 7 000%.
- Fin24
- Finance24
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