Without sufficent funds
More than a decade after Zimbabwe's controversial and chaotic land reform exercise, the subject remains emotive. Whether the programme has been a success depends on who you talk to.
Those who favour it say it is Africa's largest resettlement programme. It has seen more than 245 000 black families replace 6 000 white commercial farmers.
But if it has been so successful, critics ask, why does the country continue to import maize, its staple crop, from once poorer counterparts in the region?
These critics refer to the deal to purchase of 150 000 tonnes of maize that was sealed with Zambia's vice-president Guy Scott's visit to Harare in May. The government says that the need arose because of poor rains last season, not the failure of resettled farmers.
Politics of land
Land reform has not been free of the politics of the day. Zanu-PF says there was no other way to carry it out. It had to happen.
Land resettlement in whatever form was inevitable, says Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa. And there is no reversing it, he added.
The Movement for Democratic Change also says it had to happen, but it could have been handled better, in a way that could be less disturbing to the economy.
The opposition party, which was initially against reform, is changing tack — perhaps a realisation that any attempt to reverse it could result in a backlash at the ballot.
At its May policy conference, it said that it supported reform but insisted on an audit of the land.
Murerwa says his government is willing to carry out that audit but lacks the funds for it.
Farm ownership
One of the MDC's complaints is that there are too many people who own multiple farms, most of them well connected to Zanu-PF. The MDC also says vast tracts of land belong to President Robert Mugabe's cronies, some who expropriated land from newly resettled farmers.
University of Sussex professor Ian Scoones, who has conducted research on Zimbabwe's land reform, says much of the MDC's policy is excellent, with a solid set of principles at its core, but there is also confusion in its current policy thinking about the role of private tenure, the type of compensation to be offered to former commercial farmers and the role of state support.
"The policy has not got to grips with the implications of the new agrarian structure, and so has not captured the potentials of the land reform, but mostly focuses on redressing the shortcomings of the fast-track policy," says Scoones.
The MDC says if it comes to power it will stop the provision of farming inputs to farmers but provide title deeds for the new landowners.
Currently, landowners are issued with "offer letters" from the lands ministry; a document that they often find useless when they try to apply for loans from banks.
This is also the gripe of the once-white-dominated Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU). The body, once seen as being vehemently against reform, recently flighted advertisements that show otherwise.
Advertising
Using images of black and white farmers, one advert reads: "We can both be winners. Let's fight for each other, not against each other."
Another says: "Just like agriculture every year brings a new season for growth, we the CFU are ready, willing and very able to plant together the seeds that will grow Zimbabwe … We are ready to say goodbye to our past and hello to building a strong and viable future."
The CFU's president Charles Taffs says his union has not changed. The CFU is not racial. It has always represented black and white commercial farmers and still represents about "10% of those who were actively farming prior to 2000", he says.
Taffs takes strong exception to research by Scoones in the Masvingo province (south-eastern Zimbabwe), as well as with Joseph Hanlon, Jeanette Manjengwa and Teresa Smart — the authors of a recently published book, Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land, accusing them of "spreading propaganda through [applying] generalised statistics found in one small area" to the whole country.
"These [research findings] are academic and are doing the country and region a disfavour as aid is being moved away from people who need it, based on this research."
But Scoones says his research is detailed, rigorous and can assist the country.
Agriculture's collapsed
"If this is 'academic' then so be it. I am trained as a researcher, and aim to dig into the complexities of the situation. I do not see how knowing this sort of detailed, empirical research can damage any regional efforts. Far from it; our work shows a way forward that regional bodies, donors and other investors can support."
Agriculture has collapsed and suggesting otherwise in research or any other form is misleading, says Taffs.
The reform has not been successful because the country has gone back 100 years in the farming methods it is using, he says. It has returned to hoe-farming because there are no loans available to fund mechanised methods.
Taffs says that, although the country may be seeing increases in production, the benefits to farmers are meagre. The sector needs to return to the basics of agribusiness, he says.
He spoke strongly against contract farming — where farmers get inputs from businesses, mostly Chinese, and have to sell the crop to the same businesses at their prices.
"It's unsustainable and a poor business model. Because of it, farmers get stuck in single crops and Chinese funders export all the produce and do not produce for local markets," he says.
Rainy season
Taffs says it isn't true that new farmers were let down by a bad rainy season, because the past 10 years of rainfall were better than the previous 10, yet output is dwindling.
This, he says, is because the agricultural system before land reform was built on an irrigation system that does not exist anymore, so there is reliance on rainfall alone.
On compensation of farm land expropriated by the state, Taffs says: "What all these academics forget is that we are white but are Zimbabwean too. We also bought these farms with no government funding. Where is the respect for property rights? Or us as citizens?"
Farming can recover if the land is secured by giving farmers the titles to land, Taffs says.
"Under the 'offer letters' land can be taken away from you with a 30-day notice. Where is the security in that? We must get back to the basics. Respect property rights; offer titles for new farms and encourage sustainable agribusiness practices."
On the ground
The little research that is available on the new farmers and what they are producing is an area that is also contested. Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land paints a picture of new farmers who it says "are doing well".
The book is widely quoted by government officials, especially the section that says it takes a decade for new farmers to master their trade and that it also takes a decade to see the success of land reform anywhere in the world, so Zimbabwe is no exception.
Figures on tobacco coming out of Zimbabwe lend credence to that view that there is success on the ground.
According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, production is improving.
In its 2012 annual report it says the volume and value of sales were both up on 2011 figures. 2012 realised an output of 144.5-million kilograms of flue cured tobacco valued at $527.6-million. The 2011 season had realised 132.4-million kilograms worth $361.4-million.
The profile of the farmer now seen on the auction floors has changed. Gone are the few farmers who dominated the sector. They have been replaced by many smaller players who also look down on growing maize and cotton because of low market prices.
Figures don't tell the whole picture
Taffs says the figures in tobacco cannot tell the whole picture alone. He says that, 12 years ago, Zimbabwe produced 237-million kilograms of tobacco and its biggest competitor was Brazil at 350-million.
Now, he says, Brazil is at 550-million kilograms and Zimbabwe lags at 150-million.
"If Zimbabwe had continued at the same trajectory," he says, "we would be at 450-million. So it's not a success story."
Taffs also says the methods being used by the new farmers to cure tobacco are methods from 60 years ago.
Most farmers, he says, cure tobacco by burning indigenous timber whereas former commercial farmers used coal and "other modern methods" so the increase in tobacco must also factor in the cost of burning down forests.
Scoones disagrees with criticism that Zimbabwe has divided its farms into smaller sections that have resulted in subsistence farming at best, which cannot contribute meaningfully to economic growth.
A1 farmers
"Our studies have shown that a significant proportion of the A1 farmers [small farmers] are regularly producing and marketing surpluses and investing in farming. Such small-scale farm production is an effective route to long-term, broad-based growth.
Asked why, if Zimbabwe is doing well, as is suggested by his 2010 research, there is a need to import food, Scoones says that the past season saw a combination of drought and a decline in maize planting across the country as a whole and this has required food imports, which are not a new phenomenon.
"However, other crops are being grown and exported, generating cash, including cotton and tobacco."
Scoones's 2010 Masvingo research is one of the most comprehensive on new farmers, covering 400 households in that region. The research found a clear pattern of "accumulation from below", where new farmers use their own investments — profits from previous seasons — to invest in their activities.
On his blog, Scoones says his research exploded a number of myths about Zimbabwe's land reform, especially that it has been a total failure, has largely benefited political cronies and has created chronic food insecurity. So there are no problems on the ground?
Scoones says more infrastructure needs to be built to support new farmers and better financing can be made available with the backing of government. The Zimbabwe Takes Back Its Land authors agree: they say new farmers are poorly resourced, often relying on traditional labour-intensive methods.
Poor financing also means new farmers stretch small quantities of fertiliser over vast tracts of land, leading to poor yields. Government seed and fertiliser are often allocated along political party lines.
Can Zimbabwe return to its "breadbasket" status?
"All past studies of resettlement show a transitional period as new production and marketing systems become established," says Scoones. "This is happening in Zimbabwe, particularly after the stabilisation of the economy from 2009."