The Zimbabwe government has rejected a call by the country’s mainly white farming union for an end to land invasions, describing a statement by the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) as ”hogwash”, the state-controlled Herald reported on Friday.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said white farmers were ”dreaming” and ”unrepentant”, the paper said.
The CFU last week put out a statement calling for a moratorium on the invasions and ”current agricultural policies” and implored President Robert Mugabe’s government to bring together all stakeholders to restore the struggling agricultural sector.
But Made said that ”only dreamers would make such calls,” the paper reported.
”The white farmers have suddenly realised their irrelevance in the current agricultural set-up and have decided to write statements instead of accepting reality,” Made told the paper.
”The country’s land policies are very sound and will not be frozen or set aside,” he added.
Zimbabwe had around 4 000 white farmers in 2000 when Mugabe launched his controversial land reform programme. There are now only 300 or so left in farming. Agricultural production has dipped sharply, a situation Mugabe’s government blames on repeated drought.
There have been reports of a rise in land invasions in the last few months. Not all government officials are in favour of the new takeovers — only last month Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono said there should be ”zero tolerance” to what he termed ”disruptive activities” on farms.
Made said white farmers were being ”left behind” as the agricultural sector moved forward. ”The train is actually moving without these white farmers and it has slowly dawned on them that they are being left behind,” he said.
Recent good rains in Zimbabwe have buoyed hopes in the government for improved agricultural production this year. – Sapa-DPA