ARARE, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, June 25 (Reuters) — A 45-day countdown for 3,000 white Zimbabwean farmers to abandon their land began today, but many vowed to stay put rather than watch vital crops rot because the nation is short of food.
"Some people actually have no choice. They will farm from tomorrow morning," said Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman for the Commercial Farmer's Union.
She said the farmers would finalize papers today seeking a court ruling to stop the order.
The farmers were given until midnight on Monday to stop working the land and just more than a month to leave entirely after President Robert Mugabe's government amended its land acquisition law last month.
The order to stop farming was the latest shot by the government in its battle to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks — which it asserts is needed to redress the imbalances of the colonial era.
Zimbabwean government spokesmen were unavailable for comment, but one senior agricultural official said the farmers were using the deadlines to pump up publicity for their cause and denigrate the government.
"These white farmers are trying to wage a propaganda war out of this," the official said. "Yet a lot of these farmers were notified two years ago that this is going to happen," he said.
"The problem with these people is that they believe that if they cry, they are going to get this process reversed.
"But these farmers are fooling themselves, because we are not going to accept again a situation where the indigenous people of this country are denied land and just work for the whites," the official said.
He said many white farmers had more than one farm and very large tracts of land.
Under the new law, farmers with land targeted for seizure were ordered to stop their activities 45 days from May 10.
Now, they must vacate their land by Aug. 10 and could face two years in prison and a fine for doing farm-related work from today.
Ms. Williams said 2,900 of the 3,150 members of the farmer's union were affected, threatening the crucial winter wheat crop in a country already facing food shortages that many analysts blame on the fast-track land program.
The land program is being carried out while the economy collapses, unemployment and inflation race higher and the value of the Zimbabwean dollar crumbles.
Mr. Mugabe, who has held power for 22 years, is accused by the West and domestic opposition of stealing a March presidential election and using the state to stifle dissent.