A Good Story to Tell
May 19th, 2017 Words by Tendai Murisa[wtr-time]
| Agriculture
In the midst of all the apprehensions to do with our Zimbabwe, starting from the inconclusive debates around the national pledge, introduction of bond-notes and also of course the never ending factional fights within ZANU (PF) I thought maybe we need a good story to tell. Our work has always focused on what one would call rooting for common man (such as smallholder farmers/ peasants) and this includes but is not limited to chapters in our most recent book Beyond the Crises: Zimbabwe’s Prospects for Transformation. Today I have a good story to tell on accumulation from below. I left home at around 5:00am headed for the airport and on my way I counted more than 15 small trucks carrying bales of tobacco. Never mind that some had broken down and others were being harassed by cops at road-blocks. It is a good story to tell- smallholder farmers in A1 and communal areas have entered into the lucrative tobacco markets formerly a preserve of large scale commercial agriculture. Those who have already sold their tobacco have been earning an average of US$7,000.00 per delivery – isn’t that a good story to tell? Although its small change to some, maize farmers do not earn anything close to such figures.
This encounter reminded me of a story I should have told some time ago but I didn’t – because of procrastination. The point of it all dear reader, is that though things are not what they should be, they are also not the same; we are getting somewhere not because of government but because of our in-born resilience. This is a good story, but it has policy implications which I will discuss at the end of the story. .
In retelling this story I have been inspired by a good story that was shared by former President Thabo Mbeki about five Zimbabweans who successfully negotiated for a derelict or unused farm thought to have exhausted soils by the farm owner. The crux of the story was that they turned it around by applying manure from the farm owner’s cattle and within two seasons of production they have received the farmer of the year award in the Western Cape. That’s another good story- and I believe there are many other good stories out there about how Zimbabweans are producing and accumulating. We are just as good at farming as the next person. But then where are we getting it all wrong?
Policies. Let me say it again- bad government policies. Our policies are not a good story to tell. Take for instance the bond-notes – what a terribly bad idea. It sounds good on paper but definitely tells you that the Government of Zimbabwe has not learnt anything from the days of hyperinflation. By introducing bond-notes, no matter who or what is backing them, in the context of a struggling economy creates opportunities for arbitrage. Let me not use this big word- arbitrage- but instead let’s call it what it is- a black market and a parallel rate for bond-notes to US Dollars. Also once they get away with printing on the basis of the AFREXIM bank facility what will stop them from printing next month when they are facing a cash crunch. They have done it before- what will stop them now. The argument being peddled by government is that the bond-notes are an incentive for exporters- really? There are many other ways of incentivizing exporters- how about reducing/removing the various levies on tobacco farmers for a start. Secondly, besides bond-notes we have not yet created sufficient policy measures to enhance production on the farms.
The farm mechanization program of the 1st decade of the 21st century literally serviced elites (see Murisa and Mujeyi 2015) and now the sporadic efforts of farm mechanization on the basis of donations from Brazil are too politicized – there is literally no scientific basis as to why certain farming communities are prioritized over others. Instead of giving individual farmers tractors how about creating rural companies that provide land tillage services, run by say all these under-employed youths in collaboration with already established rural entrepreneurs[1]. Such enterprises should be able to access affordable loans to buy equipment such as tractors and other farm implements- let’s forget for a while about getting shares in already established enterprises- let us create our own enterprises that we can be proud of as a people. Each enterprise should target to service at least 5 A1 Villages. The idea is not to create another parastatal but instead to allow the penetration of the private sector into the rural space in a more production oriented manner rather than just as extractive middlemen. Services offered by such enterprises should range from land tillage and preparation support, extension advisory, harvesting, post-harvest support and access to markets. The most obvious actor to partner with will be the extension services department but it should be on a commercial basis. Chambati and the late Professor Sam Moyo have in a number of studies demonstrated how there could be shortage of farm labour and this can only have addressed through modest levels of farm mechanization.
NGO based farm support projects or government welfare based subsidies will not cut it. Its time we took our farmers seriously and see them as entrepreneurs in need of a viable private sector based support system. I know I will be in trouble with my leftie friends- but we have all seen how terrible the state is at this business. NGOs are also just as inefficient- at best they create islands of excellence and at worst they create a dependency syndrome through their project based approaches to supporting rural livelihoods. But before you shoot from the hip please read our more detailed policy suggestions in our book; Beyond the Crises: Prospects for Transformation in Zimbabwe- especially Chapter 4, Murisa and Mujeyi on Agrarian Reforms. Zimbabwe can easily be a good story to tell if only we could be more pragmatic with our policies.
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