Farming in Zimbabwe
I would like to comment on the piece written on your website with reference to Zimbabwe. You should reassess this comment as you are mistaken in your conclusions. Your comments are on a highly emotive political situation which clearly you dont understand.
Prior to Mubage's landgrab Zimbabwe was known as the breadbasket of Africa - providing sustenance throughout the Southern African region.
Zimbabwe is now having to import food from as far as Australia to sustain itself. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Statistics show that 2 million Zimbabweans would be starving within the next 12 months. (dec 2004) With reference to farmers not caring about their workers - again another generalisation.
Many farmers had set up schools, clean housing (running water/electricity) and clinic facilities on their farms to ensure their workers have a good quality of life. Now that most of the farms are redundant most of the farm workers are both jobless & homeless.
There are no fertility or conception issues in Zimbabwe - infact quite the opposite. The killer in Zimbabwe unfortunately is HIV and this is not down to "farmers" but poor education & basic cultural misunderstanding. Did you know that the mortality rate in Zimbabwe is currently 30 years old due to the rise of HIV - which I might add the government are doing nothing to contain or assist. Infact if you have done any homework at all you will also be aware that there is no such thing as a national health service in Zimbabwe - all medical is privatised.
Tobacco farming has nothing to do with Organic vegetables - when last did you see someone requesting a packet of Organic cigarettes?
I thought your site was excellent until I read your totally ridiculous statement.
Nicola Stenson
Dear Nicola
Thank you so much for your email. I really appreciate your comments. The opinions Michael van Straten expressed in his interview are his own personal opinions. He expressed to me the opinion that the information we generally get in the UK about Zimbabwe is not the whole picture. I'm sure you will agree with him to this extent.
Michael points out in the interview that most of the farms in Zimbabwe are owned by a very small percentage of the population of the country. And that most of these farms do not grow food crops, but in fact grow tobacco crops. This is just factual information, but information that most UK readers are not aware of. He then goes on to express his own opinions about how many farmers conduct their business.
I am relieved and delighted to hear your stories about responsible employers, and am saddened to hear about the unemployment their past employees now suffer. Michael has not referred to a Zimbabwean National Health Service at any point in the interview, and I am sure that he is well aware of the devastating effects of HIV on the Zimbabwean population. His opinions only refer to the effects of non-organic agricultural farming practices on the health of farm workers.
I have no doubt that both HIV and poverty have far more devastating effects on the health of the people in this country, both at the time of the interview and at this current time. As an online magazine, all we can possibly do to alleviate this dire situation is to maintain dialogue and freedom of information. As such, I thank you once again for taking the time to respond to Michael van Straten's interview statements.
Your sincerely
Ysanne
Thanks for your mail!
I am in fact a Zimbabwean with family ties to Zimbabwe as well as many ties to the now defunct agricultural system - my father worked for many years for an agricultural organisation. As a citizen of a country which despises people who fight for the freedom of information I feel fairly strongly about any articles I read outside of Zimbabwe which are not accurate with the potential for once more distorting the truth about Zimbabwe specifically around land ownership and farming.
Zimbabwe was not just a tobacco producing country. The majority of Zimbabwe's farms grew Maize, Sorghum, Wheat & Barley thus being known as the breadbasket of Africa therefore Michael's information is not 100% factual.
Also I was pointing out that the people of Zimbabwe suffer from disease due to poor national health care and lack of facilities and not just lack of organic farming practices.
Best Wishes
Nicola
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