Zimbabwean farmers arrive

Over 150 Zimbabwean farmers are to be settled in the central Mozambican province of Manica, Mozambique’s news agency AIM reported last week. The farmers are expected to produce cash crops in an area of about 440,000 hectares in the districts of Barue and Macossa. To allay fears the Zimbabwean farmers would expropriate land, local administrators reportedly discussed the project with the local communities. According to Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), an unknown number of farmers have been exploring opportunities in the region, particularly in neighbouring Mozambique and Zambia. “Farmers are looking to spread their risks by investing in other countries,” the CFU’s Michael Vowels told IRIN. “Security of tenure is non-existent in Zimbabwe, so farmers are having to look at diversifying.”