Little England Farm decimated

LITTLE England Farm, once a thriving agricultural enterprise in Mashonaland West has been decimated following its acquisition during the land reform programme.
While the 6 000 hectare property was initially occupied by ordinary people in Zvimba District following its compulsory acquisition by government, most of them were booted out in 2004 and 2005, before it was subdivided and allocated mostly to State employees.A recent Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) dossier named a High Court judge as one of the beneficiaries at Little England.
This week, the Financial Gazette witnessed little activity on the farm where former owner Graham Smith was involved in cattle rearing and farming activities before the property was seized for distribution to landless blacks in 2000. During its heydays, those passing through the main Harare-Chinhoyi road could witness cattle grazing side by side with giraffes on its lush fields, but some parts of the farm are now pictures of utter desolation.

ZANU-PF Zvimba East lawmaker, Francis Mukwangwariwa, under whose constituency the farm falls, cited the lack of capital, the settling of some people illegally on parts of the property and difficulties in getting offer letters as among the challenges affecting production at the farm.

“There is a problem of funding, if banks and government could help. The government has three months in office, so let’s wait for the budget and see what comes out for farmers,” said Mukwangwariwa.

“Some people think that if a new Member of Parliament comes he should solve everything overnight. No, it is a process,” he said, adding that those illegally occupying some parts of the farm should be evicted after the rainy season.

One elderly man the Financial Gazette interviewed at the farm gave a number of reasons why things have taken a bad turn at Little England Farm.
“A farm is like your second wife, you can’t manage it through a cell phone. The white man had a (qualified and experienced) manager, a foreman, but now our farmers send a son waiting for his final school results to be the manager,” said the elderly man who declined to be named.

“Capital is also a problem. The people here switched from Patrick Zhuwawo to Mukwangwariwa with the belief that he would help them to mobilise inputs. Poverty is a problem (here).”

In his welcome address to the just ended ZANU-PF national conference, Mashonaland West provincial chairperson Temba Mliswa alluded to the need for government to scale up food aid saying hunger was stalking the nation.

He made a passing reference to low activity on most properties in the province where Little England is also located.
Apart from once being one of the province’s striving farms, it is also at the same property where former white farmers were captured on American news channel, Cable News Network, making donations to MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Little England Farm is not the only once striving farm that has hit hard times.
Kondozi farm in Manicaland which used to specialise in horticulture for exports was handed to Chris Mushohwe, the Provincial Minister for Manicaland, and he has struggled to bring production to levels that obtained before it was acquired as part of the land reform process.

Kintyre Estate near Norton is also now a shadow of its former self after its former white farmers were booted out.– newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw