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Mugabe 'fails to meet promise'
25/01/2008 15:35 - (SA)
Harare - The realisation of promises by the government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of a record crop yield during this summer's farming season will not be met, the country's agriculture minister has admitted.
In October, the government declared that the summer would result in "the mother of all agricultural seasons" that would reverse the record of poor food production for the last five years, break the economic crisis ravaging the country and restore economic prosperity.
"The season has not been as spectacular as we had expected," Minister Rugare Gumbo said in Friday's edition of the state- controlled daily Herald.
Mugabe 'leads' violent campaign
He admitted for the first time that the government had failed to supply enough fertilizer to farmers, but also blamed heavy rains.
"I would like to acknowledge the shortages of top dressing fertilizers (applied later in the season to grown plants)," he said, while the Herald referred to "the little fertilizer" that had been used when planting began at the start of the season.
Until 2000, Zimbabwe was one of two African countries - with South Africa - that consistently produced harvests that met domestic demand and surplus for export to famine-stricken African countries.
However, international agencies said that a violent campaign led by Mugabe of seizures of land owned by the country's white commercial farmers wrecked the agricultural industry and set off an economic collapse that included hyperinflation now estimated at about 50 000%.
Late last year, the government launched a dramatic agricultural mechanisation plan that included spending $25m to import 1 000 new tractors as well as combine harvesters and modern agricultural implements and overseeing the local production of 50 000 ox-drawn ploughs and implements.
Govt secures enough seed
Gumbo also announced that the government had "secured enough seed, fertilizer, agricultural implements and fuel" to guarantee "massive output" that would restore "our status as Southern Africa's breadbasket".
However, at the beginning of the season, farmer organisations complained that fertilizer and fuel were impossible to obtain, except for senior ruling party bosses.
Seed companies said by mid-December when most planting should have been done, only 65% of the seed required had been distributed.
In recent weeks, allegations of corruption had emerged in the country's parliament over the issue of contracts for the import of tractors, while human rights agencies said two weeks ago that ruling party officials were using the ox-drawn ploughs as a bribe ahead of national elections due in March, and distributing them only to farmers who could produce ruling-party cards.
A report by the state agricultural extension organisation issued on Friday cited widespread "stunting" of the crop of maize, the national staple, around the country, because of insufficient fertilizer.
Sapa-dpa
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