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White farmers in Zimbabwe are threatening to step up their protests over the continued failure by the police to remove squatters from their land, the BBC said on Monday.
The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) was quoted as saying that they were considering a “wholesale shut down of farms”. Economists said that such a move would wreak havoc on the already crippled agricultural economy. The threat by farmers comes at a time when they are supposed to be preparing for the next planting season.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made has appealed to the farmers to call off their protest. He told the official ‘The Herald’ newspaper: “It has been difficult to establish who is organising the protest because the union has denied that to me. I appeal to the farmers not to go ahead with the demonstration. Anyone who feels threatened on the farms should go to the police.”
“If the strike goes ahead it will reaffirm the need for land redistribution in the country. We cannot have a few people threatening the majority because if they go ahead it will mean that everyone will go hungry,” he reportedly said.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
