Once a net exporter of grain products, Zimbabwe’s fortunes have reversed over the past decade, becoming a steady seeker of food aid and increasingly relying on international food aid. Approximately half of the nation’s 12 million people are in need of aid, as crop failures and barren fields resulted in the all-time high number being left hungry in 2008.
2009 was slightly better – more rainfall and the economic reforms installed by the unity government that took power last February have benefited the population. UN estimates state the number needing food aid this year to be 1.9 million.
The controversial land reforms – resettling predominantly white-owned farms with black farmers by Robert Mugabe’s government – has brought the question of ownership titles to the table. Under Mugabe’s forcible resettlements, farmers were not given property titles which results in the inability to gain commercial agricultural loans from banks.
The unity government plans to conduct a land audit this year to determine proper land ownership, and then issue deeds to re-start farm financing by banks.
Donors have given 74 million dollars in aid to Zimbabwe’s traditional farmers, a windfall for communities like Bindura, where fertilizer and seed crops are the only source of food and income.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that donor-funded projects could produce 450,000 tonnes of grain, about one-quarter of the nation’s needs.
Posted by Patricia Lee.
