Posted on 12/10/2002 11:57:04 PM PST by Clive
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government, facing severe food shortages, has started to seize grain from white-owned farms.
Justice for Agriculture (JAG) said in a statement yesterday that government officials and soldiers had seized several tonnes of maize from farms in north-western Zimbabwe.
A two-week deadline for farmers to deliver grain to depots of the state-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB) expired on Tuesday.
Farmers have been reluctant to hand over all their maize, partly because of controlled prices for the crop, and partly because they want reserves for their own workers and livestock.
The farmers' group said 36 tonnes of maize had been seized from three farms in the Tengwe area of Mashonaland West province, a fertile maize and tobacco farming area.
"On Grenora Farm they forced the workers to lie on the ground and threatened to run them over unless they yielded the keys for the barn," JAG claimed.
The army was not available to comment on these allegations.
Around eight million of Zimbabwe's 12 million people are threatened with famine this year, due to poor rains that have affected crop production.
Aid agencies also blame diminished production on disruptions to commercial agriculture brought about by a land reform programme.
Sapa-AFP
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