Zimbabwe’s new agriculture minister says the authorities want to address “injustices” committed during land reforms – and the main white farmers’ union says it wants to work with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government.

On October 5, Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, told Reuters News that his country is likely to produce 1.9 million tonnes of maize in 2018/19 production season, up by 12 percent from the previous season. 

American think-tank, the Cato Institute, recently published a warning of the possible effects that expropriating privately-owned farmland may have on South Africa.

An American research team set tongues wagging in South Africa this weekend when they called on South Africa to learn a lesson from the Robert Mugabe regime, in order to avoid becoming a “second Zimbabwe” when implementing land expropriation policies.

The collapse of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector from the early 2000s is well documented, and largely attributed to ill-conceived land reform policies.

The last time white Zimbabwean farmer Rob Smart left his land, it was at gunpoint, forced out in June by riot police armed with teargas and AK-47 assault rifles.

The collapse of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector from the early 2000s is well documented, and largely attributed to ill-conceived land reform policies.

Farmers in Zimbabwe are appealing for funds to irrigate their land, in hopes of fending off a possible drought predicted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

As Zimbabwe's farmers head to the fields to plant, the country is facing yet another dry growing season, meteorologists predict. But that has not persuaded Sikhathele Sibanda to grow something besides thirsty maize, despite government urging.

Of the 64 countries globally which have embarked on land reform, 17 had restitution programmes in place and only 11 have claimed to be successful, says Dr Theo de Jager, president of the World Farmers Association.

A key land reform lesson South Africa can take from Zimbabwe is that the country experienced record-low investment in agriculture due to land rights issues. 

White farmers in Zimbabwe who were evicted from their properties years ago have been experiencing a drop in food production, and their hope to get government financial help to compensate any losses caused by land seizures is slowly dimming, according to some activists.

Citrus producers in the southern part of Zimbabwe have asked policymakers and authorities to fast track the implementation of export measures. Their main focus is on removing non-tariff trade barriers. Farmers in Beitbridge revealed this during a visit conducted by ZimTrade, the country’s export promotion body.

Ten farmers have served notice they will claim R1.9 billion, and there are thousands more where they came from.
A report in Afrikaans weekly Rapport today reveals that at least 10 farmers plan to put in a compensation claim for nearly R2 billion against the South African taxpayer over their losses in Zimbabwe.

South Africa is said to be at crossroads – for lack of a better expression. This is due to the recently voted Constitutional Review Committee‘s report in parliament on the constitutional amendment for expropriation of land without compensation – a motion adopted in February and voted in December 2018.

Dis byna die einde van Januarie 2019- en met hoop en verwagting kyk elke landbouer elke dag op na die wolke en hoop dat dit kan reen om hierdie hitte van die afgelope paar dae te breek en verligting te bring vir alles wat  so afhanlik is van water.  

This is a difficult year for Zimbabweans. Aside from the government’s recent decision to increase fuel prices, which led to a widespread resistance, Zimbabwe is likely to experience maize shortage later in the year, which would also result in an increase in food prices.

The drier weather conditions that affected parts of South Africa also had a negative impact in the maize-producing areas of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi over the past couple of months. Hence, these particular countries could experience a double-digit decline in maize production in the 2018/19 season compared to the previous one.

A few months ago I wrote an essay for Business Day arguing that there should be more cross-border learning between the South African and Zimbabwean farming sectors in order to bring socioeconomic stability in the Southern Africa region.

The Zimbabwean government is likely to give back some land to white farmers, after a land audit is set to be completed in March.