Remaking Africa’s breadbasket

Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa must not be distracted by the jeers from sections of the crowd at his inauguration when he promised compensation for the 5000 white farmers driven from their land by Robert Mugabe. Nothing else the muddle-headed Marxist despot did during his 37 inglorious years in power did more to ruin the economy of “the breadbasket of Africa”, condemn its people to impoverishment and arouse global indignation. Highly efficient farms that were the backbone of the economy and provided work for 70 per cent of the population became unproductive wastelands after being turned over to clueless Mugabe cronies and war veterans amid violence that left 60 farmers dead and many injured.

After the fateful decision to “fast-rack land resettlement”, a country that exported agricultural products became a food importer. Maize production declined 79 per cent, wheat by 90 per cent, soya beans by 66 per cent, citrus by 50 per cent, dairy by 59 per cent, beef by 67 per cent, coffee by 92 per cent and tea by 40 per cent. The destruction of the agricultural sector left 85 per cent of Zimbabwe’s people unemployed and 49 per cent malnourished.

Mr Mnangagwa, who was Mugabe’s notorious “enforcer”, was complicit in the decision. His unsavoury record has him described as “younger, richer and crueller” than his former leader but it is to his credit that he recognised the need to get Zimbabwe’s economy working again and right the wrongs done to the farmers. It signals his intentions to the international community. The IMF has made it clear farmers’ compensation (of up to $13 billion) must be agreed before wider discussions about rescheduling Zimbabwe’s $9 billion of defaulted international debt. Some farmers who migrated to Australia are cautiously optimistic about the change in Harare. Many of the farmers who fled Mugabe’s madcap “land redistribution” also went to neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and Uganda, where they have mostly prospered. It is crucial for Zimbabwe to get the agricultural sector back to what it was if the nation is to recover from the decades of Mugabe’s brutal rule.