Why Zimbabwe has failed to sate the yearning for land and to fix rural hunger

As the 1990s drew to a close, persistent drought, a failed structural adjustment program, rampant inflation, and lack of foreign exchange created a challenging environment for the Zimbabwean government and population. Hungry for land, Zimbabwe African National Union-People’s Front (ZANU-PF) supporters, some of whom were war veterans, invaded white-owned farms with the government’s approval in early 2000. This took place before parliament passed a bill that changed the constitution to legalise the expropriation of white-owned farms without compensation. Once the change was voted in, “fast tracking” land reform for resettlement became policy.

As opposition movements grew, ZANU-PF became increasingly willing to adopt programs aimed at fast tracking land reform to landless, discontented, yet voting, populations.

Violence and continued government threats left the majority of white farmers with little choice but to abandon their land or discontinue cultivation. By 2004 the government-controlled newspaper indicated that farmers only used a quarter of the arable land in the country that season. Agricultural production plummeted and the country went from a net food exporter to a net importer.

Zimbabwe continues to face extreme food shortages which have only been exacerbated by drought. Today, about 5 million of the country’s population of 14 million are estimated to be in need of food assistance.

It undoubtedly remains challenging to integrate local populations meaningfully into the agricultural sector as producers of food and cash crops. This is partly a result of harsh economic realities, including economies of scale and market access. But, as can be seen throughout Zimbabwe, newly settled populations thrive when they are given training and investment that supports the production of food and cash crops.

This is the policy that needs Zimbabwean and international support post-Mugabe to address the country’s rural hunger, and perhaps employment, challenges. This is at the heart of the second Chimurenga, and Mugabe’s almost 40 year old promise to the population of Zimbabwe.

By Beverly L. Peters- This story first appeared in The Conversation

https://theconversation.com/why-zimbabwe-has-failed-to-sate-the-yearning-for-land-and-to-fix-rural-hunger

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