Food security in Zimbabwe: The White Farmer Factor?

Most of what Eddie Cross says in response to my earlier blog article, is in agreement with my own analysis. He confirms that even when white commercial farmers were in full unhindered operation there were seasons when Zimbabwe had to import food. He also confirms that there is a large variation in seasonal rainfall (40% is the figure he gives) which influences food security at household level.

My original post was focused on household food security. Eddie expands the picture to include commercial agriculture. Again I do not deny that farm invasions were a significant blow to commercial agriculture.

Eddie is right that living standards were low in communal areas. But it is patently false to claim that those of farmworkers were higher. Peasants had secure (though not legally recognized) tenure on their land. They could accumulate property, mainly cattle and farming implements, which could serve as a savings base or pension.

On the other hand, farm workers had scant job security. Eddie touts a figure of 2 million farm workers but forgets to mention that most of them were seasonal workers who only had jobs during the rainy season and moved to the communal lands during the dry season. Those who nominally lived on the farms had little job security and hopped from farm to farm, because of frequent firings, with barely the clothes on their backs. When they grew too old to work most had nowhere to go except the communal lands. Most became the poorest members of the communal communities becuase they would not have been able to accumulate property while working on farms.

I fully agree with the point that removing 30% of production will lead to serious shortages. However the reason why I tend to emphasize other factors is to counter the unspoken racist insinuation that blacks can't feed themselves and need whites to feed them.

I have never disputed that the decline in commercial agriculture contributed to overall decline in agricultural output, but I strenuously object to attempts to pass it off as the sole reason for 'starvation' in Zimbabwe.

I grew up in rural Zimbabwe and all my life I know rural communities are not fed by commercially grown maize. They either grow their own maize or, in times of drought, imported maize. That is why rotary hammer mills (zvigayo) for grinding maize into flour are ubiquitous in Zimbabwe's rural areas.

The removal of white farmers was always going to negatively affect the macro-economy of the country, but it would have improved the micro-economy of the peasant farmers significantly if it had not been accompanied by price controls and trade restrictions. Given that 70% of Zimbabwe's population live in the rural areas this would have significantly improved lives.

Poor economic policies and trade restrictions also significantly affected sectors of the economy which had nothing to do with farming such as mining and services.

Other factors also contribute to the increasing frequency of food shortages in Zimbabwe. The growing population has put a tremendous strain on the ability of communal lands people to continue being self sustaining on the same little land that was allocated to native reserves almost a century ago. The land for native reserves was barely sufficient then, and there is absolutely no chance it will be sufficient now.

To give an anecdotal example, Chiraramiro village, where my mother comes from, originally had six families, Chiraramiro (the Headman), Vambe, Nyamanza, Matambo, Musasiwa and Muketa families. Chiraramiro and Vambe had more than five sons each, including the famous Hahuhunhanzvi (You will never lick this beer). Muketa had three. So by the time of my mothers generation the families had increased to more than 16.

In my generation, each of these 16 families have had three sons on average. The same land that was barely sufficient for six families is now expected to support nearly 50 families. Needless to say there is absolutely no chance all these 50 families being self sustaining without jobs elsewhere. Urbanisation has led many members of the families into towns, where the situation is not much better. Jobs were scant even before the economic collapse.

Some say the economy collapsed because white farmers were chased away. I say the economy collapsed mainly because politicians are stealing or otherwise misusing the money. A ravenous kleptocracy is chewing up more than its fair share of resources.

That climate change is also playing havoc with food security is also increasingly becoming apparent. Of late the rains start in late November sometimes December. Yet the rains used to start around September and October.

As some may know the name gukurahundi (the rains that wash away the chaf) refers to rains that fell around August, soon after people finished processing their harvests. Now that name remains in use only because it was the nickname given to the Fifth Brigade, the army division accused of committing atrocities in Matebeleland provinces in the mid-1980s. Otherwise rains in August a virtually unheard of nowadays.

Yes the removal of white farmers did affect Zimbabwean agricultural, but it would be folly to ignore the numerous other factors also at play. It is also folly to think that the land question can be solved by simply restoring the colonial status quo which is what most white farmers seem to be hoping for.

The major sticking point at the moment seems to be who is responsible for compensating evicted farmers, with Mugabe saying it is the responsibility of the British, and the British saying they are not liable for the sins of their forefathers. At least this is what Claire Short said in a letter to the Zimbabwe government.