- The Talent to Move a Nation
- Zimbabwe's Displaced Agricultural Talent Force
- New Zealand's Muffled Boom
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Zimbabwe's Displaced Agricultural Talent Force
In 2000, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe mandated that, under his leadership, the country would take a dramatic step. White farmers who had been farming in the country for more than a century would be forced to give up their lands to the region's indigenous Africans. Mugabe insisted this step was necessary to reverse the effects of British colonialism, which had left whites in control of a majority of Zimbabwe's most fertile farmlands.
Enforced by a militia loosely known as "war veterans," who squatted on properties to harass and threaten the occupants into leaving, Mugabe's land-reclamation initiative largely achieved its goal.
However, during the struggle, several white farmers who had worked the land for generations were attacked and killed. Hundreds of millions of dollars in crops were either abandoned as farmers were forced to hastily relocate, or neglected as Mugabe's war veterans fought with the farmers and prevented workers from doing their jobs.
Not surprisingly, agricultural production plummeted immediately in a country once considered a breadbasket for the region. Once an exporter of maize, Zimbabwe began to face a dire maize shortage and could not import enough of it to keep up with demand. Mugabe blamed the crisis on a prolonged drought in the region, and his supporters dismissed any connection between the famine and the administration's policies, saying that the displaced white farmers had primarily grown tobacco.
The lost agricultural production threatened the entire region's population. Neighboring countries, such as Zambia and Malawi, depended on Zimbabwe for its exports of the staple crop maize since their own agricultural programs were on shaky ground. As many as 13 million people across Africa were affected by the sudden shortage. Many were starving.
Compounding the problem, these farms had employed thousands of people who suddenly found themselves without jobs. Some groups estimated that as many as 70,000 people were without work. In addition, much of the "redistributed" land was given not to farmers, but to high-ranking soldiers, diplomats, and other insiders who did not work the land to its capacity, leaving unfilled holes in agricultural production and employment.
Interestingly, several neighboring countries understood the value of this newly available pool of skilled talent. In Mozambique, where all farmland is owned by the government and leased to farmers, only 4 million of the country's estimated 36 million hectares of usable farmland were being utilized. Some displaced farmers moved there and leased farmland from the government. Angola, whose maize production was long stunted by civil war, recruited the unemployed Zimbabwean farmers to help increase output there. Officials in Malawi and Botswana encouraged the farmers to invest and form joint ventures with existing farmers in their countries. All of these countries opened their arms to the farmers in one way or another.
About 300 of the farmers settled just across the Zambezi River in neighboring Zambia. The Economist said it succinctly: "Zim's loss, Zam's gain." These former Zimbabwean farmers are now running about 150 farms in Zambia, many of which employ dozens or even hundreds of people. In 2004, for the first time since 1978, Zambia was able to export more corn than it imported. Nineteen thousand tons of that crop were sent to Zimbabwe.
And what about the claim by Mugabe's supporters that the displaced farmers primarily grew tobacco? It is estimated that about one third of the farms seized in Zimbabwe's land redistribution were growing primarily tobacco. In the year 2000, Zimbabwe, a powerhouse of tobacco production, produced a whopping 237,000 tons of the gold leaf. After that record crop, the country saw 4 straight years of decline until, in 2004, it produced an estimated 65,000 tons. Meanwhile, neighboring countries have become rising stars in tobacco production. From 2000 to 2004, Zambia's tobacco output increased fourfold.
In all, the displacement of a few thousand farm owners caused major shifts in the gross domestic product of several African countries, as well as dramatic fluctuations in the prosperity of entire populations.