Zimbabwe: It's Time for Farmers to Deliver

The following article was taken from http://allafrica.com/stories/200712170208.html, and has been posted here in response to my letter directed to President Mugabe but written to many people in Zimbabwe and in other places back in August based on what Yahweh showed me. I just hope the country can get it together - because now is their opportunity to do so.

The Herald (Harare)

EDITORIAL
17 December 2007
Posted to the web 17 December 2007

Harare

HEAVY rains that have pounded most parts of Zimbabwe, though insufficient in some areas, have raised hopes for a better harvest to blunt the harsh effects of successive droughts over the past seasons.

The rains have brought a sigh of relief to both rural and urban communities that were battling to get food.

With these rains, it is now not time to fold back our hands.

It is now time to deliver.

The Meteorological Office has forecast above normal rains for this season, hence the current rains falling in most parts of the country.

Since Zimbabwe is in the middle of its agricultural revolution, our energies should now be directed at ensuring full production on the farms and make this season the "Mother of all agricultural seasons".

We all have an obligation to shame critics of our historic land distribution exercise.

The success of the programme depends on productivity.

During past seasons, some farmers complained that they were unable to plant early enough owing to delays in getting inputs.

Farmers -- as we have reported in the past -- can overcome this by buying inputs early instead of waiting for the last minute.

The Government has already shown its total commitment towards providing farmers with crop inputs, fuel and machinery.

It is now up to farmers to play their part and ensure the land is productively used to attain food self-sufficiency.

Indeed, the burden now lies squarely on the shoulders of farmers, to ensure all the hard work by the Government to put in place all they require to produce, is not in vain.

We therefore applaud the Government for coming up with packages designed, not only to boost agricultural production, but to financially reward farmers for their hard work.

We believe this season should be the turning point in agricultural production.

Everything has been done and continues to be done to support farmers, and with the prediction of above to normal rainfall, there should not be any excuse for failure.

To boost production, the Government gave farmers tractors and ox-drawn farm machinery and implements.

We have reported time and again that these are not for decorating farm homes and homesteads but are tools with which to turn wastelands into greenlands.

The targets which have been set -- at least 2 million hectares of maize, 400 000 ha small grains, 600 000ha tobacco, 120 000ha soybeans, 20 000ha groundnuts, 400 000ha cotton and 56 000ha sugarcane -- should be met.

Massive production is not only confined to crops, but also beef, chicken and pork. This is also the surest way of eliminating food shortages.

Meanwhile, warnings by the Met Office of flooding in some parts of the country and which have already hit parts of Muzarabani, should be taken seriously.

Perhaps the storm will move away or dissipate, or the heavy cloud from the north may bring less rain than expected in certain parts of the country, and there will not be any serious flooding.

But that would not mean the warning was not necessary, or that warnings should not be issued, until people are being swept away by flooded rivers.

It is better to go on alert and be prepared a score of times than to be caught napping.

Dignity & Freedom - A message from Zimbabwe...

A few months ago I wrote my letter to a few people in Zimbabwe regarding the rains which were coming. The following was taken from the letter of a Zimbabwe resident, and a lover of humanity, Cathy Buckle. She eloquently describes the rainfalls which Zimbabwe so desperately needed (it's really been pouring out there since then):

Sunday 28th October 2007

Dear Family and Friends,
The first real rain of the new season fell this week and it came with a bang. In the distance the rolling rumble of thunder got louder as the storm drew closer. The sky grew darker, the clouds dropped lower and then the birds went quiet - a sure sign that it was about to start. The noise soon built to tremendous levels and the flashes of lightning were instantly followed by cracks of explosive, roaring thunder - the storm was directly overhead. A strange orange, yellow cloud formed in the sky - a warning of ice for sure. Two shirtless men who had been toiling for most of the day down in the riverbed ran up to the road and raced for cover, using their buckets as umbrellas. The pair have become a feature of the neighbourhood this summer. They collect water from a pool they have dug in the almost dry riverbed that runs through a nearby vlei. The water is murky and the buckets are edged with mud but there is a continuous demand from urban neighbourhoods where water is usually only available for a couple of hours a day, and somedays not at all. The men fill buckets, decant them into twenty litre containers, load them onto a hand cart and then sell them in the neighbourhoods to those most desperate.

Moments after the water gatherers had taken cover the rain began, coming in thin slanting sheets at first but then overtaken by a rush of hail stones. The pea sized white balls skipped off the roof and lay on the ground giving a temporary white landscape which soon melted. When the hail slowed the torrents of rain moved in - big drops pelting down, bringing relief to the land and giving hope that always comes with a new season. Two inches (50ml) of rain fell in the first hour, accompanied by brilliant streaks of white fork lightning coursing through the sky, so close as to make your hair stand on end.

When it was over, seemingly from nowhere, came the summer regulars: Sausage flies, Dragon flies, Chongololos, Flying ants and the big black biting ants that give off a foul smell which we called Matabele Ants when we were kids. From unknown places a myriad crickets, cicadas and frogs have emerged to sing and screech and fill the air with the sound of Africa. The hard, baked ground has come back to life instantly and there is a new, soft spring underfoot. Almost overnight a flush of green has risen in the bush, on the roadsides and across our gardens. The barren, burnt landscape, ravaged by a devastating season of bush fires, can breathe again - you can almost feel the relief. The wild flowers that stood so starkly in the sand and ash have also taken on a new fullness and more mellow colour and are a picture: dwarf red Combretums, Yellow Heads, blue Thunbergia, exquisite orange Pimpernels and the Protea bushes are covered in creamy white flowers.

Zimbabwe came back to life again this week, you can see it and feel it and smell it. And now in our newly washed land we look to our leaders and politicians to finally put an end to this time of pain and suffering and turmoil. We are not a greedy, selfish and demanding nation, we want only food in the fields, products in the shops and space to walk, talk and act with dignity and freedom. We want our families that are living such hard and lonely lives in the diaspora to come home; we want to start rebuilding our communities and neighbourhoods and to have joy in our lives again. It is not too much to ask. Perhaps this new season can be the start, the change we all so desperately want. Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

http://www.cathybuckle.com/october2007.shtml