Zimbabwe’s white farmers’ union has launched a plan to break a deadlock between it and the government over land reform a week after two of its leaders resigned, a statement said on Wednesday.
The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), which represents about 4 500 white farmers, said its ”ABC plan” aimed to ”break the deadlocks and progress towards a more conducive climate for farming”.
The statement gave few details on the plan, but said it took into account ”the needs of the government”.
White farmers have been divided on whether to work with the government on land reform — which has seen most white-owned land seized for redistribution to new black farmers — or defend their property rights in the courts.
Last week the CFU’s president and director quit because of differences over the best way to resolve the two-year land wrangle.
Both officials had advocated dialogue with the government. A break-away group, Justice for Agriculture (Jag), has been formed to pressure the CFU into taking the legal route.
Currently more than six million Zimbabweans are threatened by famine which aid agencies blame on the government’s land reform programme. The government denies this, blaming the food shortages on a drought. – Sapa-AFP