Some villagers in the Mhangura, Doma, Kesi and Umboe communal lands say life is unbearable as serious food shortages are forcing them to sell property including land, scotch-carts, cattle and goats.
Some of the farmers told Studio 7 at the tobacco auction floors that the new payment system would inconvenience them as they usually want to buy agricultural inputs once they sell their crop.
The hunger situation in Mashonaland East was worsening with more families surviving on wild fruits and sometimes one meal a day.
In a statement, Beatrice Mwangi, the World Vision Southern Africa region resilience and livelihoods director, said thousands of children in Zimbabwe and across Southern Africa are slipping into malnutrition and death.
“Well, the distribution of food is being done along party political lines. The people that are given the food are members of that (ruling) party in power alone.”
Commercial Farmers Union chief says his organization is pessimistic at this stage of the deal because there were no significant moves towards compensation by government in the last 16 years.
“I want to say that China is going to provide, donate rice worth 160 million Yuan ($24.6 million) as emergency food assistance,” said Ambassador Ping.
“Zimbabwe and South Africa used to be the leading countries in the construction of small dams. A lot of farmers used to irrigate their farms. That investment has since stopped in Zimbabwe … ”
The Zimbabwe Farmers Union, ZFU welcomed moves by the government to compensate evicted white commercial farmers.
Zimbabwe millers have put in place measures to ensure that the country has adequate supply of maize-meal, according to Zimbabwe Millers Association chairman Tafadzwa Musarara.
Land owner, Jeremiah Ngwerume, of Mhangura, says land defines one's freedom and doesn't regret the taking over a commercial farm, which was once owned by a white person.
“It’s rare and I don’t think we remember when a whole region declared a disaster … Significance of this is that SADC is acknowledging that this is unprecedented. It’s a big crisis that is affecting most of the countries in the region ..."
Load more
