Govt spurns CFU overtures

via Govt spurns CFU overtures – DailyNews Live by Mugove Tafirenyika  10 JANUARY 2014 

Government says it has no intention of re-engaging with the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), an independent membership-driven organisation which advances the interests of white farmers in Zimbabwe.

Agriculture minister Joseph Made told the Daily News in an interview recently that overtures by the CFU to work with government to establish a Land Commission was coming a little too late.

He said government was no longer interested in cooperating with the former white commercial farmers because they previously spurned his proposals for re-engagement.

“They (CFU) are going from place to place talking about re-engagement but we are saying our main preoccupation at the moment is seeing to it that we have produced enough to feed the country,” Made said.

“I personally tried to engage them for more than six times at the expense of meeting other unions but they insisted that the CFU did not represent individual farmers as they had chosen to go it alone,” said Made.

Made said CFU had the right to express their opinion on the current agriculture model but could not lecture government on the need to provide a conducive environment for agricultural development, as well as restoring investor confidence in the country.

“Now, after completing the land reform programme, we cannot be seen concentrating on a union whose membership is negligible,” Made said.

“They must focus on their membership or join other unions to form one single union.

“They have made their point to us but we need to be reasonable. The land reform programme is irreversible

“Instead of making such proposals, CFU should be calling for the removal of sanctions because they were imposed on the country the moment we embarked on the programme to empower our people.”

Last year, CFU presented a proposal to government seeking to persuade authorities to reconsider their position on the issue of land “to create a win-win situation, without financially prejudicing the country and its people”.

CFU president Charles Taffs, told the Daily News they had presented to government a model that will guarantee security of tenure, access to affordable credit and long-term investor confidence to new farmers.

The first step in the proposal was that the government acknowledges the debt owed to former farmers as compensation for their farms.

It proposes that for every title deed held by former farmers, bonds will be issued to a value corresponding to the value of the farm.

The bonds will be internationally underwritten and managed by a recognised international accountancy firm.

These bonds will be tradable, interest bearing and will be redeemed over 10 years in annual instalments.

Taffs said the proposal would unlock value of the nation’s principal asset base and use that value to drive production, rapid economic growth, capital gain and job creation.

“On the back of the agricultural sector, supply and downstream industries will grow and thrive,” Taffs said.

He said if implemented, the model would also ensure that government will enjoy increased tax revenue and decreased dependency by citizens on direct support from Treasury.

Government however, maintains they have the best model in Africa which cannot be reversed or revised.

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