Donated farm equipment sold on the black market
Zim Standard
BY GODFREY MUTIMBA
MASVINGO - Beneficiaries of the government's Farm Mechanisation
Programme have sold the equipment on the black market.
The Standard's investigations have confirmed that farmers who received
ox-drawn ploughs under the programme are selling them on the black market
when they should be tilling the land.
The beneficiaries, most of them Zanu PF sup****ters, received ploughs
from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) which funded the programme for the
2007/8 rainy season, dubbed "the Mother of all farming seasons".
The Standard established party sup****ters who do not own land but stay
in Masvingo benefited from the programme.
They were among those selling the equipment on the black market.
The city dwellers are said to have obtained the equipment through
links with Zanu PF provincial leaders, The Standard was told.
Alfred Chin'ono, who bought a plough for $20 million from a relative
he refused to name, said:
"My relative, a top official in the provincial party hierarchy, sold
this plough to me at a give-away price because he got it for free from the
government."
A beneficiary found selling his plough to peasant farmers at Mucheke
bus terminus last week, told The Standard he was selling it because he was
facing "several problems", particularly the shortage of inputs such as
maize
seed and fertilizer.
"I got this plough distributed through the governor's office," said
the farmer who freely gave his name to the newspaper, "but it's better to
sell it to make quick money, since my farming programme has been disturbed
by inputs shortages. I can't just till the land when I don't have the
seeds."
Takavafira Zhou, a university lecturer, commenting on the abuse of the
farm implements, said: "These programmes are responsible for enhancing the
runaway inflation, as the government is printing money to buy equipment
for
farmers who are not serious."
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