Random land reform putting farm output at risk

The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) warned this week that the country risked losing a substantial slice of its agricultural output from the 2000/2001 farming season if the government continued implementing its “haphazard” land redistribution programme, the independent ‘Financial Gazette’ said on Thursday.

CFU deputy director Jerry Grant said the resettlement programme had thrown the whole farming sector into turmoil and most farmers had stopped farming over fears that their farms could be acquired to back the plan launched earlier this month.

“We now stand to lose the entire farming season unless a pragmatic land reform exercise which everyone in the industry subscribes to is implemented quickly,” Grant said. “At this rate, we are throwing the whole sector into turmoil and we stand to severely affect production levels.”