Time new Zim farmers pay back

If it is true that farmers in Zimbabwe 
are doing well and that production is back to the levels before farm invasions in 2000, government must demand payment from all those who benefited from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)'s farm mechanisation programme.

According to figures made available by former RBZ governor Gideon Gono a few years before the end of his tenure at the central bank, the farm mechanisation programme cost government US$198 million, while seed and fertilizer gobbled up US$171,2 million between 2005 and 2007.

The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) had fertilizers, seed and grain imported on its behalf by the RBZ at a cost of US$610,2 million.

Between 2006 and 2007, RBZ imported fuel from Equatorial Guinea at a cost of US$220,8 million. This was given to farmers and government ministries.

These amounts are part of government's US$1,3 billion debt which should be settled, and so farmers must play their part by paying back.

Asking farmers to pay back now is a fair deal because they have had about seven years of settling in, using the seeds, fertilizers, fuel and farm implements at no cost.

There has not been drought in the recent past years which could have caused the farmers fail to produce.

In order for government to do this, there is need for a farm audit to establish who got what and how what was gotten was used on the land.

A list of the farm mechanisation programme can be taken from the RBZ. The money which the farmers pay back can be ploughed back into some kind fund for farmers from which they can borrow money at an interest.

Such an audit can also be used to chuck out lazy bones who are sitting on productive land doing apart from burning grass, hunting mice and small game as well as over-fish farm dams.

Those who are sitting on productive land which is empty must be asked to move out and pave way for serious farmers who can use the land for the benefit of the nation.

This should be so because it's morally wrong to have people sitting on productive land when the silos that used to be choke-full are yawning empty. This should be so because looking at the amount Gono pumped in, there is no justification for the people who received fertilizers, seed and fuel as well as tractors not to produce.

Benefiting from state coffers and failing to produce is morally wrong when hunger is choking the nation. It's as morally wrong as what was done by those chief executive officers who earned ridiculous salaries when poverty is strangling the nation.

The nation must hold them accountable for the grain shortages. Moreso considering that during the period – 2006/7 - Gono was pumping money and the new farmers were bathing in the glory of owning productive pieces of land, Zimbabwe had to import grain from Malawi at a cost of US$20,4 million.

A Malawian newspaper, Nyasa Times, however, put the figure at US$24 million in April 2013. The paper also said Zimbabwe had to pay Malawi in fuel after the country's new president, Joyce Banda, had pursued the matter.

If this is true, one wonders how and where Zimbabwe got the fuel worth US$24 million to give to Malawi.

Early this year, government imported 150,000 metric tons of maize from South Africa. This importation came after the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee had revealed that maize production in Zimbabwe was 800,000 tons in 2013. This shortfall, according to the Committee pushed up prices by 61%.

In January, deputy Agriculture minister David Marapira said 300 tons had been delivered. Marapira also said Zimbabwe received 10,000 tons from Zambia, Marapira said. During the 2008/9 season, Zimbabwe imported 525,834 tons.
Indeed, there should be no need for the country to import maize when farmers received a lot of support from the RBZ and when they enjoyed seven years of non-payment.
This should be the primary question which those who are sitting on productive farms should answer. And government must ask them through an audit.
It is also criminal for people to sit on productive land while the country is struggling with a huge grain import bill. Moreso, considering that we are now importing maize from Zambia of all countries.
With the penchant to lift the lid on corruption these days, the list of all beneficiaries and how much they owe the government should be made public. This is so because it's public money. The whole country suffered and is still suffering because those farmers benefited.
This should make a case for payment demands.