Ministers Publicly Clash Over Crisis On Farms

Source from:  Financial Gazette (Harare) November 2, 2005 Nelson Banya 11/08/2005

A PUBLIC row erupted this week between Agriculture Minister Joseph Made and his deputy, Sylvester Nguni, over declining output from the country's farms since the advent of land reforms in 2000. Made reacted angrily to Nguni's candid assessment of the state of the agriculture sector, which has declined sharply since the government embarked on the controversial land reforms. Addressing a Zimbabwe Farmers' Union congress in Bulawayo last week, Nguni, who until his appointment to the ministry in April was head of the country's most profitable agro-industrial businesses, the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe, said the government had made mistakes in its allocation of land, which saw some people without "the faintest idea of farming" getting vast tracts of farmland. "We have a few people that are really committed to production while many others are doing nothing on the farms. The problem is that we gave land to people lacking the passion for farming and this is why every year production has been declining," Nguni was quoted as saying. Zimbabwe has witnessed reversals in tobacco, maize, milk and horticultural production, losing its erstwhile position as the sub-region's breadbasket. Tobacco production, which peaked at 200 million kilogrammes in 1999, has sagged to levels of around 80 million kilogrammes while dairy and horticultural production has almost fallen by 50 percent. Although the region has been hit by a series of droughts in recent years, some countries such as Zambia have managed to produce surpluses to export to Zimbabwe, reversing the previous trend. Nguni also charged that key stakeholders in agriculture, including government, "were not telling the truth when it came to matters afflicting agriculture yet the truth, however unpalatable it might be, forms the basis for moving forward." "The truth of the matter is that the maize price is not very attractive. Even if we did not have a drought we were still going to import as farmers turn to more lucrative crops -- and that is the truth," Nguni said. He went on to attack the government's endless audits of the land reform programme. Nguni's statements drew sharp and immediate criticism from Made, who charged that the deputy minister was advancing arguments long held by "detractors" of the land reform exercise. In response to Nguni's suggestion that government cedes institutions such as the degenerating Agricul-tural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) -- which, incidentally, Made used to head before his ministerial appointment -- to individuals and organisations with capacity, Made said: "The deputy minister should come up with recommendations on how best to assist these institutions so that farmers can get the best out of it." Made also repeated the government's mantra that the decline in agricultural production has been brought about by a series of droughts and "illegal sanctions imposed by Britain and her allies." Made, who has been accused of frequently misrepresenting the country's food security situation and must have been stung by Nguni's charge that both the government and industry were being economical with the truth, is believed to have an uneasy relationship with his deputy, with whom he frequently clashed when Nguni was still at Cottco. The agriculture minister also attacked industry for "not moving inputs to farmers on time" and former white commercial farmers for "vandalising property on the farms." Last August, the permanent secretary in the agriculture ministry, Simon Pazvakavambwa, earned himself a reprimand after revealing that the Grain Marketing Board -- the sole grain procurement body in the country -- only had three weeks' stocks of maize left in its silos. At the time, grain imports, which had averaged 15 000 tonnes per week fro several months, had virtually stopped. The government has since stepped up grain imports from South Africa. Enditem