Zimbabwe's harvest 'insufficient'

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3875027.stm

>snip

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says the country faces a shortfall of 325,000 tons of cereals this year.

The Zimbabwean government has predicted a record harvest of 2.4 million tons of maize.

But FAO says it expects the harvest to be less than half that figure - around a million tons of cereal crops.

It says erratic rainfall, a shortage of quality seeds, deep poverty and a mismanaged land reform programme are behind the poor harvest.

>snip

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. Anybody?

***cue tumbleweed***

[Redhead488]

2. Isn't that what happens

When you "liberate" the land from the current owners who have been feeding the country (and others), and turn it over to people with no farming experience?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. That's what the article says n/t

[Zynx]

4. It's what happens many times with misguided land reform.

Zimbabwe used to be the breadbasket of Africa. Now it can barely feed itself.

[Aidoneus]

7. tobacco isn't usually edible..

maize is.

[AP]

8. They weren't feeding the country. Number one crop: tobacco.

For export. Profits going into European bank accounts.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

11. Wasn't it you who warned me about the BBC?

Sorry if I'm spreading their take on it. I must admit I'm new to the topic and have seen you engaged in debate about this.

[AP]

22. Yes. I heard a BBC debate on land reform in Zimbabwe. Representing the

anti- side was Frederick Forsythe, author of Dogs of War.

It was one of the most racist, idiotic discussions I'd ever heard on any subject (from Forsythe, anyway -- the guy representing the pro-side was some Zimbabwean named George something, and he was brilliant).

That was the only time I've ever heard the pro- side represented on the BBC, and they archived the show for about three days, and never provided a transcript on the web site. So, down the memory hole with the truth.

[Redhead488]

14. Doesn't matter if Tabacco WAS there # 1

crops, they were able to feed their country with the OTHER crops.

[AP]

20. No they weren't. The best land was used for tobacco farming which

not only didn't feed Zimbabweans, but created wealth that never reached Zimbabweans. It created wealth for corporate farmers and for European consumers.

Zimbabweans were fed by NGO food handouts -- they fostered a culture of dependancy.

There was a great article here once criticizing NGO's because they would never help build infranstructure that would allow Africans to feed themselves. All they did was buy grain from western farmers in Europe and NA (which was often inedible) at inflated prices, and they'd dump it on Africa.

[Judi Lynn]

24. It's really clear to anyone who makes the effort to read enough

on the subject to get a grasp.

Really appreciate your patience, AP. Thank you.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Maybe this explains some of the problem for those who either don't know

or don't care enough to find out by reading on their own:

(snip)
Africa as Europe's Breadbasket

While many of Africa's people, farmers and communities have had to suffer for lack of arable land due to the possession of such lands by foreigners, it is astonishing that much of the produce of these lands are used to feed Europe and other parts of the world, where climate and weather conditions prohabit the growing of a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, grains and foods. While the myth of Africa being un 'underdeveloped" continent that cannot feed itself continues, the fact is Africa produces huge amounts of food that finds its way on the plates of Europeans and others.
(snip)

The question is why are Africans and other Black/Third World nations suffering from a lack of food and even technological/industrial development? The answer lies in situations such as those suffered by the landless farmers in parts of Africa whose lands were taken during the colonial period and turned into commercial farms producing food to feed the people of Europe.

Ironically, this is the same type of colonial exploitation that has led to starvation, tribal conlict, slavery and destruction of African societies and for which reparations are being sought. Yet the recent "Conference againt Racism," shows clearly that , no reparations will be payed to Africans in Africa or the dispora, even while their lands are being occupied by the descendants of the colonialist element and even when the cycle of poverty and degradation continues.
(snip)

http://www.raceandhistory.com/Zimbabwe/10092001.htm

[AP]

17. "I been very tempted/ To grab it from the till/ I've been very hungry...

But not enough to kill"

Europe is not very hungry, but they're grabbing from the till of Africa.

Doesn't anyone find it curios that Africa is the breadbasket of Europe, yet it's Europe that's incredibly wealthy, and it's Africa that's incredibly poor.

Typically, when you have something someone else wants, and there's a free market, the producers tend to make some money off what they produce.

However, Europe is very wealthy, partly because they're not paying a fair price to Africa for what Africa produces. And a lot of European anxiety about Zimbabwe is because they know that with land reform that gravy train is probably going to stop rolling. They'll have to engage in a free and fair marketplace for food, and a lot of wealth is going to shift to Africa as a result.

Why hasn't Africa rectified this problem sooner? Because of the wealth disparity between Africa and Europe. Europea uses its wealth and power so that they can contine to subject Africa to this crappy economic arrangement.

http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/theclash/somebodygotmurdered.html

[Judi Lynn]

18. Isn't it interesting that Caribbean islands and Latin American countries

were used to produce products to be used elsewhere also?

United Fruit's death grip on Latin America? My GOD.

Cuba was used at one time for sugar, bananas, and tobacco, which ALL went to the U.S. and Europe. The common people were simply screwed.
Their only work revolved around the crops, and they were simply without income for much of the year.

Funny how things work out for unorganized citizens merely trying to get by after they are seized by a powerful conqueror (with lotsa weapons to make sure there's no mutiny). It doesn't work to their advantage, does it?

[Maeve]

5. That threatens to be a lot of hungry people

Damn

[Zynx]

6. The food shortage last year contributed to 300%+ inflation.

So continues Robert Mugabe's dystopian reign.

[Aidoneus]

12. Mugabe controls the weather now?

That not being the case, I'd like to hear you explain comperable conditions from nearby Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, etc..

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. Comparable conditions?

The FAO does not expect food emergencies in any bordering country. The nearest is Malawi.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/J2649e/J2649e02.htm

The FAO report on Zimbabwe:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/J2650e/J2650e00.htm

[AP]

23. It doesn't look like they predict one in Zimbabwe either. 17.5% shortfall

can probably easily be made up in imports (provided their currency isn't sabotaged).

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. I think you've misunderstood the report

They do predict a food emergency; that's why they've coloured Zimbabwe red on the map. If you read the Zimbabwe-specific report, you see the 325000 tonnes are above what the think the government will be able to buy in. The highlights say:

• With a mid-2004/05 population of 11.9 million, total cereal utilization should be almost 2.35 million tonnes. This implies a potentially large national cereal import requirement: nearly 1.3 million tonnes.
  
• As of 1 April 2004 informed sources put the level of GMB maize stocks at about 60 000 tonnes. Total cereal stocks in private hands have been estimated at about 45 000 tonnes. The government’s total cereal import capacity (maize) is estimated to be at least 620 000 tonnes (220 000 tonnes in pipeline from last year’s contracts, and at least 400 000 tonnes to be purchased in the current year). This reflects an improvement in the foreign exchange situation due to stricter Government management of foreign exchange transactions, including remittances from Zimbabweans abroad. The deficit of 285 000 tonnes in wheat and rice is expected to be covered through commercial imports. Taking into account food aid already pledged or available in country, the uncovered cereal deficit should be about 325 000 tonnes. Unless total utilization falls further, this deficit will have to be met by additional commercial food imports and/or food assistance.
  
• An estimated 30-40 percent of farmers may run out of food from their own production within two or three months (end of June or July). Their already weakened coping mechanisms will be stretched to the breaking point. The ongoing economic crisis, with inflation remaining at around 600 percent annually, will inflict further hardships on the poorer groups, including the urban unemployed and under-employed. Household members from these categories of population are likely to require assistance on an urgent basis. The recently issued Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee report indicates that 2.3 million rural people will not be able to cover their food needs in 2004/05. Late in 2003, the Zimbabwe VAC had also estimated that 2.5 million people in urban areas were food insecure.
  

[AP]

26. I read it as saying that's what wasn't in the pipeline. But I didn't read

it as saying that they weren't going to be able to get that 325K.

[AP]

9. By the way, this is a prediction. We'll see when the harvest comes in

whose prediction was right.

[Aidoneus]

10. weren't..

13 million people supposed to have starved by now (estimates from much the same crew)? Yet the only mass graves being found are those that were filled by the old order..

[Judi Lynn]

13. You bet. Last year and the year before we got predictions

of millions and millions starving.

The story you're probably describing is out now:

The report said more than 1 900 bodies had been found at different sites scattered throughout Mount Darwin, which was the focus of fierce fighting during the war.

The paper said the victims were likely to have been villagers and supporters of black nationalists who were killed more than 24 years ago by special units of the former white minority government.

The bodies were then dumped down mine shafts, or in mass graves, the paper claimed.

Black nationalist fighters, who included President Robert Mugabe, waged a bitter guerrilla war against the former regime of prime minister Ian Smith, leading to the country's independence in 1980.

The latest findings come after small-scale miners discovered bodies down a disused mine shaft in the same area in September.
(snip/...)

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=vn20040707125242826C916719

posted by dArKeR

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=671514

[AP]

16. What sounds worse? "1/3d of a mil short" or 82.5% of need satisfied?

With its population of nearly 12 million, Zimbabwe needs a total of 2.35 million tons of cereals for the coming year, leaving a shortfall of 1.3 million tons.

Almost a third of a million tons will not be covered by existing cereal stock or incoming orders and will probably be imported, FAO says.

In other words, they have 2 million, and need and need 2.35. They'll come up short 350K according to the UN inspectors' predictioins (who, the article notes, weren't able to do a complete survey because Zimbabw kicked them out, no doubt, believing that they only inteneded to spin the results to influence Zimbabwean politics.

Notice how the BBC sort of couches the 2/2.35 issue. They separate out the harvest, the amount stored, and then to make 350K sound bigger, they call it a "a third of a million." 350k is closer to zero than it is to a million, but that million in there makes it sound bad.

And, to preempt crticism, I'm not saying Zimbabwe isn't going to come up short, but I do think land reform is going to feed more people than corporate tobacco farming, and I do think the BBC isn't above propagandizing whenn it comes to reporting on Africa.

[Oggy]

21. Glad to see you using those links my friend.

He says after one to many whiskeys.

Sorry, on edit nice post. Hmmm is is Land reform and oppression or is it the corporate farmers? I'd say it is land reform for cronies. He had such a good chance to do some good, but he just became another African dictator ( Mugabe that is ).