EDITORIAL COMMENT: Only committed farmers should own land

chronicleThe rains are now upon us and real farmers are busy planting. It is our hope that most farmers now have the required inputs that include seed and fertilizer. Land preparations should have been completed a long time ago and the major activity now should be planting.

The rains this year came very late and it is therefore important that farmers mobilise the required resources to enable them to plant within a short period of time. Weather experts have already predicted a normal to above normal rainfall during the first half and reduced rains during the second half. It is therefore important to take advantage of the good rains during the first half.

Last season most areas recorded a bumper harvest and this was attributed to early delivery of seed and fertilizer under the Presidential Input Scheme and we believe the situation was the same this year. The government on its part has covered a lot of ground in availing land to the landless majority under this fast track land reform programme.

More than 300,000 families who were confined to barren land by the settler regime are now proud owners of land in prime farming areas which used to be a preserve of the white minority. The nation is therefore looking up to the new farmers to assist the country to regain its status of being the bread basket of Southern Africa.

Zimbabwe requires about two million tonnes of maize a year and there is no reason why it cannot produce much more than this. We used to export maize to our neighbouring countries and now that we have the land, we have no excuse for failing to once again produce surplus for export.

Rural farmers despite being confined to unproductive land by the colonial government, used to account for about 80 percent of the national maize output. We want at this juncture to implore all those that benefited from the land reform programme to ensure that the land is used productively.

Land is a finite resource and as such we cannot afford to let it lie idle. Those who got the land for speculative purposes should be removed from the land and such land should be allocated to other landless Zimbabweans that are prepared to use it productively. Zimbabwe has no room for “cellphone” farmers and therefore only committed and dedicated farmers should remain on the land.

The government has since independence been assisting farmers with farming inputs as well as providing tractors for tillage and we believe after more than 30 years of independence, most of these farmers are now ready to be weaned off.

Farming is a business and as such a serious farmer should be able to meet all his or her costs. The government assistance cannot continue forever. The government has many competing priorities for its resources and once weaned off, some of the resources that government used to channel to farmers could be directed to other needy sectors such as education and health.

The Grain Marketing Board which received the bulk of the farmers’ maize last season should ensure that all outstanding payments are done so that farmers have money to buy their requirements.

We want to once again call on the farmers to mobilise adequate resources to enable them to complete planting in the shortest possible time.

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