Feeding programme targets unemployed farm workers' children

A supplementary feeding programme in rural Zimbabwe hopes to reach at least 10,000 children whose farm worker parents have lost their jobs in Zimbabwe's land acquisitions. The Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ) said on Tuesday that it currently fed about 2,000 children up to the age of five whose parents no longer had an income. Worst off were children in Mashonaland east, west and central, said FCTZ director Godfrey Magaramombe. "A number of farms are not operating, farm workers are not in gainful employment and can't provide food," he said. "They are not receiving a salary and their priorities now are food, not really shelter." The programme was started in February 2002 when FCTZ workers running children's early development programmes noticed that some children at farm play centres, established to keep children safe from farm equipment and chemicals while their parents were working, were not getting enough to eat. With sponsorship from the British government's Department For International Development (DFID) the FCTZ started supplying "mahewu" (a maize-based gruel) for the children in summer. It aims to provide hot porridge in winter and, resources permitting, extend this to at least 10,000 children by the end of May, he said. Magaramombe said at least 100,000 farm workers were estimated to be affected by the government's fast track land reform programme which started in February 2000. While some have moved to live with friends and family, most of them are remaining on the earmarked farms trying to find piece work on neighbouring farms that are still operational or farms that have been resettled. A recent study also showed that up to 22 percent of about two million farm workers were second or third generation immigrants and had no other place to move to. On Friday the government gazetted a law which would enable it to set up an Agricultural Employees' Compensation Committee to determine benefits and entitlements for farm workers whose employers' farms have been earmarked for resettlement. A committee already exists to assess and pay out farm owners for any improvements they have made, but not for the land itself which the government argues was stolen by colonial settlers. However, many farm owners say they are being driven off the land without compensation and a recent order by Agriculture Minister Joseph Made prohibits them from selling any of their farm equipment. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said that as of 17 April, 5069 farms consisting of 10 million ha had been listed for compulsory acquisition. The land acquisition programme has also created a climate of uncertainty about future crops for the country which is already in the grip of severe food shortages, drought and rocketing food prices. Peter Wells, chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Cereal Producers Association said current wheat stocks of 170,000 mt would probably only last until the end of August at the current consumption rate of between 32,000 to 35,000 mt per month. Beyond that things were uncertain. "Normally we have about 600 large scale producers but the majority have received some notice of acquisition - a section 5, 8 or 7," he said. Wells explained that a Section 5 notice meant that government had earmarked the land for acquisition. The other sections ordered farmers to stop farming and eventually they receive a Section 8 notice giving them 90 days' notice to leave their land. "About a third have already received a Section 8," said Wells. CFU president Colin Cloete said in a recent statement: "Farmers who have been served with a Section 8 order can no longer, by law, plant a crop on their properties. Many others who may not have received Section 8 orders have been shut down by war veterans and farm invaders and are physically unable to continue their operations." Vanessa McKay, administrator at the Zimbabwe Grain Producers Association, which represents large scale grain producers, also predicted shortages from August. She said current early projections for the April/May crop show that there should be a maize harvest of about 595,000 mt. With consumption usually at about 150,000 mt a month, that would only last until the end of August. "By the end of August the current crop in the ground will be depleted," McKay said. "Beyond that we will have to rely on import programmes being stepped up. August and September is going to be critical." McKay added that about 100,000 mt of imported maize arrived mid February and its distribution would managed by a food security task force appointed by the government. A spokesperson for the Grain Marketing Board, the parastatal which has sole distribution rights for the grain, was not immediately available for comment. Meanwhile, Zimbabweans already suffering shortages, woke up to steep increases in basic foods on Tuesday. News agency AFP said a government gazette released on Monday raised the maximum retail price of a standard loaf of bread to 60 Zimbabwe dollars (US $1.09) from 44 dollars (US $0.80). The previous price was set in October 2001. Cooking oil now costs 198 Zimbabwe dollars (US $3.60), up from 141 dollars (US $2.57), for a 750 ml bottle. The WFP is currently implementing a 12-month US $60 million emergency food programme in Zimbabwe which it hopes will reach about 500,000 of the most needy. It is also conducting food shortage assessments in urban areas.