|
|
Zimbabwe: Land Reform Yields Results in Umguza, Bubi
 |
 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
The Herald (Harare)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Harare
Those who peddle the lie that Zimbabwe's land reform programme has failed should visit Umguza and Bubi districts to see for themselves how ordinary Zimbabweans are reaping the dividends of the land revolution.
Newly resettled communal farmers in the districts are now reaping the rewards of Zimbabwe's land reform programme as this year they have recorded bumper harvests despite the erratic rains that characterised the 2007/08 farming season.
A survey on Wednesday showed most farmers were each expecting to get between 10 and 50 tonnes of maize, which they said was enough to meet their food needs for the next three years.
The farmers said they would sell some of their grain to the Grain Marketing Board. The enthusiastic farmers recounted their difficult existence before they benefited from the land redistribution exercise.
Many of them, victims of British settler oppression, used to eke out a living on arid, barren soils. Today, thanks to Zimbabwe's land revolution, the villagers are marvelling at their bountiful harvests. At the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, where they showcased huge volumes of grain and sunflower, they came out tops in the farming contests.
One such villager, Mr Thompson Dube, could barely hide his excitement. Mr Dube said he was expecting to reap between 18 and 20 tonnes of maize. "This was a good year for me compared to the previous farming season. I am looking forward to getting between 18 and 20 tonnes of maize.
"I am not talking about hunger this year. I will not even set my foot at the GMB depot for the next three years to look for grain. Instead, GMB officials are the ones who would come to me to buy," said an elated Mr Dube.
He said his life had changed dramatically since he moved to Umguza from Tsholotsho. "This is a good farming area. Where I was in Tsholotsho the land was not good for farming. We owe this to President Mugabe and his Zanu-PF Government for allocating us land," said Mr Dube. He said to show appreciation for what the Government had done for them, people in Umguza voted resoundingly for all the Zanu-PF candidates in the March 29 elections.
"What more would you want? We have been given land, now the farming equipment has also been given to us. Our MP (Cde Obert Mpofu) supplied us with seed and now our granaries are full.
"All that remains is for us to defend these gains, by making sure that the opposition MDC does not get into power. "I am happy that is what we did in the just-ended elections and we will repeat that in the presidential run-off," said Mr Dube.
Another villager, Mrs Shathani Mabaleka, who got 12 tonnes last season, is expecting to double that figure.
Mr Julius Ncube said he was expecting to get between eight and nine tonnes of maize and half a tonne of sorghum. Mr Ncube said his major challenge was shortage of fertilizer.
"I did better last season. I had about 14 tonnes. This year I ran out of fertilizer and that affected me a lot," said Mr Ncube.
Mrs Sylvia Sibanda said she was looking forward to getting about 25 tonnes of maize, enough to keep her going for four years.
"With the size of the family that I have this is to take me for the next four years. I also grew sunflower which I exhibited at the ZITF," said Mrs Sibanda.
Mr Dube came tops at the sunflower exhibition, while Mrs Sibanda got the first prize in the maize category.
The biggest winner was the village head for Makondo who is expecting to get about 50 tonnes of maize.
One of his elder sons, Mr Mbonisi Ncube, showed the family's three granaries, which were all full to the brim.
"We did quite well. As you can see, the granaries are full and we are looking at clocking about 50 tonnes this year," said Mr Ncube.
Umguza District is home to people who came from various parts of Zimbabwe when the land reform programme was launched. Most of the people came from arid areas such as Hwange, Tsholotsho and parts of Matabeleland South.
Bubi district administrator Mr Edmore Mahlupheka, said harvests were good in the resettlement areas.
|
Mr Mahlupheka singled out Dromoland Farm as one such area where the harvests were excellent.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
