Posted on 11/30/2002 3:39:54 AM PST by backhoe
From IRIN (UN), 28 November
Logistics a key element of emergency operation
Durban - A variety of issues - such as the controversy regarding genetically modified (GM) food aid - have created challenges for logisticians working to keep the relief pipeline for Southern Africa open. Poul Skov is the World Food Programme's (WFP) logistic officer/port captain in Durban, the entry point for the majority of food aid in the region. Skov's office was just recently established, in fact it will only be fully staffed and operational in December. At present he has to manage 60,000 mt of various food aid commodities in the port. Maintaining the health of the stock has become a major challenge. "Our responsibilities are to handle all logistics services in Durban, [in cooperation] with other entities. The [port] office is going to be responsible for the dispatching of cargo to countries in need in Southern Africa, to monitor the cargo we have [stored] here in port and to make sure it remains healthy," Skov said. Last week they dispatched about 4,600 mt of stock. "It has gone down, previously we dispatched between 6,000 mt and 7,000 mt. This was partly due to the situation in Zimbabwe, with the GM maize issue having halted the transport of cargo to Zimbabwe," he added.
Monitoring the health of the stock has meant conducting daily inspections and spraying to prevent moss and insect infestation. "If you find infestation you have to arrange for fumigations of the cargo. At the moment the stock is in horizontal storage in bins, this carries a high risk of infestation. We prefer silos, it allows better management of the health of the stock. But for reasons of congestion - the silo's are full - we have to store it in bins," Skov said. Delays caused by the controversy surrounding the acceptance of GM maize - Zambia has rejected GM food aid while other countries in the region have insisted GM food be milled prior to distribution - has impacted on the food aid pipeline. "It affects me in that the routine is bogged down, there's no off-take [delivery] to the destination [the beneficiary countries]. It's a highly political thing. There's 3,000 mt of maize sitting in [rail] wagons that was meant for Zimbabwe, the GM maize may have to be taken off and stored in silos somewhere until it is sorted out," he said.
Rail operator Spoornet would want its wagons turned-around as quickly as possible so as to maximise their use and profitability. "They may say it's okay [to keep the GM maize stored on the wagons] for a while, but they will need their wagons soon," Skov said. This could become a problem as further relief shipments were expected soon. "Shipments are already en-route to Durban and, if worst comes to worst, they will have to be diverted to other ports. Durban is one of the main points of entry for shipments, feeding the [food aid] pipeline to the entire region and the Relogs [Regional Logistics] office in Johannesburg has to manage the food pipeline for the whole region," Skov added. This emphasised the need for smooth operations in the port. With stock pressures building in Durban, storing the food in "an adequate manner, according to the manual of WFP" has become Skov's main focus. Another challenge was dealing with transporters contracted to deliver food as "they are private operators, so their aims differ from WFP". "But the main challenge is keeping food healthy and getting them out of the bins and into silos," Skov added. "When you break the pipeline, you break the distribution [of food aid to beneficiaries]. [It was vital] that we make sure the pipeline ticks over, we do so in very close cooperation with Johannesburg - where the information regarding needs is gathered - and my job is to get it [food aid] underway as soon as possible," said Skov.
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 29 November
Resettled farmers in trouble
Vincent Kahiya/Augustine Mukaro
The first rains which have fallen countrywide have not stirred resettled farmers into land preparation and planting, raising fears of another serious famine next year. The government has been upbeat about the resettlement programme, calling it a success of unparalleled proportions. But evidence on the ground suggests otherwise. The Zimbabwe Independent this week visited Mashonaland West, the country's prime farming area where in normal years the early irrigated maize crop is knee-high and the dryland crop would be at germination stage. But there is no such evidence this year. Weather experts have indicated that the El-Nino threat and the continuing rainfall deficit this season are getting stronger but there does not appear to be a plan by the government to mitigate the effects of the drought by putting a large maize crop under irrigation. Such a crop should mature with or without good rains. Crop experts this week said the absence of a large irrigated crop was telling insofar as it revealed the government's lack of planning. "It does not make sense for the government to give farmers in dry areas bags of seed and fertiliser when there is a real threat of a drought," said an agronomist with a seed company. "The government should instead have moved in around September to ensure that a large maize crop was planted under irrigation. There has been talk of a large maize crop to be harvested in February and then dried in kilns but where is the action?" he asked. Areas which normally produce an early maize crop such as Makonde, Mazowe Valley and Enterprise do not have any crop in the ground as this has either been looted or removed by farmers for safe keeping. The area between Mapinga and Chinhoyi along the Chirundu highway does not have any meaningful maize crop as vast stretches of land are either overgrown with weeds or have been ploughed but not planted.
Last week, Mashonaland West provincial governor Peter Chanetsa was quoted in a local daily pleading with those allocated land to move in quickly and begin ploughing. Land experts say about 40% of acquired land would be put to productive agricultural use while the rest was being held for speculative purposes. The total area that has been planted with maize from seed acquired by the government and donor agencies and that sold directly by seed houses to date will provide for about 1,2 million hectares. The initial production estimate at a yield of 0,6 to 0,8 tonnes/hectare would yield between 720 000 and 960 000 tonnes of maize. This falls far below the national requirement of about 1,8 million tonnes, excluding the strategic grain reserve requirements. Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme yesterday said the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe was "deteriorating at a dangerously rapid pace". The WFP said reports of children dropping out of school and families resorting to ever more desperate coping mechanisms were increasing alarmingly. At the same time, there is a growing concern that food imports by both the government and aid agencies are falling far short of the amount required to feed people up until March. "We are approaching the very worst period of the crisis, when 6,7 million Zimbabweans will need food aid and yet WFP does not even have the resources to meet our target of three million beneficiaries in November. It is an extremely serious situation and it is only going to get worse," said Kevin Farrell, WFP representative in Zimbabwe.
From Reuters/Bloomberg, 28 November
Zimbabwe gives farmers two weeks to surrender their grain
Harare - Zimbabwe's state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has ordered farmers to deliver their stocks of maize and grain within two weeks or it will seize them. Farmers were "directed to deliver all corn and wheat in their possession to the nearest receiving GMB depot within 14 days from the date of this invoice", the board, which has a monopoly on grain trade, said on Tuesday. More than half of the country's 12 million people are threatened by famine, according to the UN. President Robert Mugabe's government blames the food shortages on a regional drought, while the UN says a state policy of seizing mainly white-owned commercial farms for resettlement by blacks has slashed supplies. Mugabe introduced regulations last year giving the GMB the sole legal right to import and export maize and wheat. It ordered local producers to sell the commodities to the board. The UN World Food Programme and international donors have criticised the GMB's monopoly of the grain trade and urged the government to relax controls so that food imports could reach the country more quickly.
Commercial farmers say that government supporters who have seized the farms have left grain to rot in the fields. "On one farm alone, the Retzlaff family lost 600ha of wheat after they were chased off their farm," said Wynand Hart, a spokesperson for Justice for Agriculture, a lobby group of white commercial farmers. Zimbabwe's supreme court had reserved judgment on a local company's challenge against the GMB monopoly over all trade in the staple maize, state media reported yesterday. Frontline Marketing had asked the country's highest court to terminate the GMB's monopoly and allow other players to trade in maize and wheat, the Herald newspaper said. Zimbabwe's deputy attorney-general, Bharat Patel, told the court the instrument was necessary to protect consumers against profiteering in sales of the scarce commodities. "In order to meet the objective of ensuring equitable distribution of maize at an affordable price, it is necessary to control the marketing of maize as prescribed by the [GMB] act," the Herald quoted Patel.
The US-based Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet) warned last month that Zimbabwe's food crisis was deepening and millions more faced starvation unless they received food aid and the government eased its monopoly on the grain trade. "The maize marketing system needs to be reviewed to allow more private sector participation in the marketing and distribution of maize to increase supplies, lower prices, and make maize accessible to starving people," it said. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change said Zimbabwe customs officials had impounded about 132 tons of maize the party had imported from South Africa. Zimbabwe produced about 500 000 tons of maize this year against normal harvests of about 1.5 million tons. The US, which has vowed to provide at least half of Zimbabwe's emergency food aid, has said that a further US$104 million will be given to buy 208 000 tons of urgently needed food supplies. The food is expected to arrive in Zimbabwe between now and March next year, Independent Foreign Service reported yesterday. Once the bread basket of southern Africa, Zimbabwe now needs food aid because of a sharply lower maize output. The government says the shortage is because of a drought that has hit small-scale black farmers, who account for 70 percent of Zimbabwe's annual maize output.
From The Daily News, 29 November
Barwe fires shots at war vet over land row
By Precious Shumba
Reuben Barwe, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation chief correspondent embroiled in a land ownership dispute with war veterans, on Wednesday allegedly fired three shots at one of the plotholders, an ex-freedom fighter. Relations between Barwe and the war veterans at a farm in Norton reached boiling point on Wednesday when Barwe, 49, allegedly pulled out his pistol and fired at Isaac Chidhakwa, 46, one of seven plotholders at Sunnyside Extension Farm. Police in Norton confirmed the incident while Barwe could not be reached for comment yesterday. An officer at Norton Police Station said an Inspector Sithole, the police district intelligence officer with the Police Internal Security Intelligence, recorded Barwe’s statement of the reported incident between 12 noon and 1pm yesterday. "Barwe has been officially charged with the offence of discharging his firearm and attempting to kill the war veteran," he said. In March this year, Barwe allegedly fired two shots into the air at Budiriro Flats in Harare to scare off people who were jeering at him for his pro-government news reporting. Earlier that day on 9 March, the first polling day of the presidential election, Barwe was involved in an altercation with voters at Glen View 3 shopping centre polling station.
In an interview yesterday, Chidhakwa confirmed he had reported the incident to the police. He said the incident happened at about 5pm on Wednesday as he returned from his plot. He said he was in the company of another plotholder, Abisha Mukange. "Before we reached the gate, we met Barwe who stopped his vehicle. He ordered me to talk to him about their problems, but I refused to stop," Chidhakwa said. "He became hostile. I walked away because he looked very dangerous. I turned around and the next thing I saw was Barwe aiming a gun at me. I took to my heels and he fired a shot which went wide." Barwe reportedly then proceeded to Chidhakwa’s plot where the war veteran’s workers were planting maize seed and threatened to shoot them. Barwe allegedly came back and chased Chidhakwa in his vehicle, firing two shots in the process, which again went wide. Chidhakwa said he sought shelter at the adjacent Hunyani Forest Farm. War veterans allocated land at Sunnyside have previously attempted to evict Barwe from the farm. Last Wednesday, Barwe denied they were trying to evict him. He maintained he still retained the 240 hectares allocated to him and had already tilled about 50 hectares and planted maize and soya beans. Sunnyside was designated by the government under the chaotic land distribution programme and the Department of Agricultural Extension Services pegged 12 plots. Barwe was allocated one of the plots, 66 hectares in size, but has reportedly insisted he owns all the 240 hectares.
From News24 (SA), 28 November
Gold lures farmers from land
Harare - Hungry Zimbabwean farmers are abandoning their fields in search of gold, raising the fear that the country will again not produce enough food to feed its people this season. More than six million Zimbabweans face starvation that aid agencies blame on political violence that has disrupted farming on commercial and communal farms. The government, however, blames food shortages on the drought that is affecting most of Southern Africa. The landowners are deserting their newly acquired plots granted under the country's controversial land programme in the hope that gold will provide an end to poverty and hunger. The new landowners say they have been waiting for the farming inputs promised to them by government since they were "resettled" on farms formerly owned by whites at the beginning of the year. One such landowner, Tatovonga Chiremba (22), of Shurugwi was "resettled" in the peri-urban area of Gweru in the Midlands province. "I've been panning along with other new farmers since we were brought here at the beginning of the year," he says. "We could be farming but the government hasn't distributed seed and fertiliser yet so we have to look for gold to make a living." "Given the fact that we can make a living through panning we may abandon the idea of farming if we don't get the inputs before the end of this year," he added.
The government recently legalised gold panning, under the banner of indigenous economic empowerment despite environmental hazards the practice poses and gold seekers are flocking to rivers, streams and abandoned gold mines. Their search is fuelled by the Central Bank's recent gold price increase to Z$50 000 (about R8 300) per ounce. The bank has also set up a gold trust fund to buy gold from the panners. Entrepreneurs also cashing in on the "gold rush" by setting up tuck shops and selling food and basic goods to aspiring miners. Cornelia Mudzingwa, an informal trader from Matenda in Zvishavane in the Midlands province says he can't think of a more rewarding line of business. "Business is quite vibrant here. I am making a lot of money by selling food and essentials like soap, maizemeal, sugar, cooking oil and oranges," Mudzingwa says. "We capitalise on the gold panners because every minute of their time is working time. They live in the bush. This means they can only buy from us even though our prices are exorbitant." Mudzingwa says he's smiling because he makes at least Z$10 000 (about R1 600) profit a day. Compared to the average low-income earners' monthly income of about Z$20 000 (about R3 300) a month Mudzingwa is a wealthy man. Reputable businesspeople and senior government officials are also climbing on the gold bandwagon by reportedly hiring people to pan for them. There are an estimated 100 000 panners in the Midlands province alone.
Zimbabwe once had one of the most vibrant economies in Africa, but the past three years have seen a decline and according to finance minister Herbert Murerwa's 2003 budget speech earlier this month there is little hope for recovery. The recession is widely blamed on government mismanagement and President Robert Mugabe's controversial seizure of the white-owned farms. Of the 4 500 white farmers only 600 have stayed on their farms since the start of the programme two years ago. The land was earmarked for "redistribution" of the country's poor but a recent audit by a ministerial committee established that less than a third of the allocated plots had not been taken up. Critics say the new farmers lack the financial backing and infrastructure needed to restore Zimbabwe's agricultural sector.
It might even be appropriate for Powell to invoke the name of Kofi Annan in the same sentence with a reference to Zimbabwe. Of course, Mr. Annan may not have time to respond to the slaughter in Zimbabwe since his first priority is obtaining funds from the US for the UN remodeling fund.
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