“We are grateful, but the food will only be enough for one month,” said Mushaikwa, 71, who lives with her elderly husband, as she trudged away with her bag of grain. “My crops are wilted.”

Zimbabwe has failed to feed itself since 2000 when former president Robert Mugabe seized white-owned farms, disrupting production and leading to sharp falls in output, leaving many Zimbabweans reliant on food aid for survival.

The crisis has been exacerbated by an El Nino-induced drought that has hit many southern African nations. The government has estimated that 2.7 million people will go hungry this year, although the real number could be higher.

The government is considering whether to declare a state of emergency, a government minister told Reuters.

El Nino is a naturally occurring weather phenomenon associated with a disruption of wind patterns that means warmer ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific.

It occurs on average every two to seven years, typically lasts nine to 12 months and can provoke extreme weather such as tropical cyclones, prolonged drought and subsequent wildfires.

“When you drive around, you will see that many crops have wilted,” said World Food Programme acting country director Christine Mendes in Buhera, about 220 km (140 miles) southeast of the capital, Harare.

Zimbabwe’s staple maize harvest is expected to halve to 1.1 million tons this year.

WFP has helped 270,000 people in four drought-prone districts between January and March but will need additional funds to feed more, said Mendes.

In Buhera, 47-year-old Mary Takawira assessed her crop, which dried up before maturity.

“I do not remember the taste of (corn) anymore,” she said. “This is going to be a tough year.”

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Last month, Zimbabwe agreed to pay US$3.5 billion in compensation to local white farmers whose land was forcibly taken by the government to resettle Black families, moving a step closer to resolving one of the most divisive policies of the Robert Mugabe era.

Under Zimbabwean laws passed during a short period of opposition government but ignored by Mugabe, foreign white farmers protected by treaties between their governments and Zimbabwe should be compensated for both land and other assets.

In that regard, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube and Lands and Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said in a joint statement that these farmers should apply for their land back.

That means, in some instances the government would “revoke the offer letters of resettled (Black) farmers currently occupying those pieces of land and offer them alternative land elsewhere,” the ministers said.

But removing the Black beneficiaries from the land could prove practically and politically difficult.

“Where the situation presently obtaining on the ground makes it impractical to restore land in this category to its former owners, government will offer the former farm owners alternative land elsewhere as restitution where such land is available,” the statement said.

The ministers said other white farmers whose land had been earmarked for acquisition by the government but were still on the properties, can apply to lease the land for 99 years, just like their Black counterparts.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the land reform could not be reversed but paying of compensation was key to mending ties with the West.

The program still divides public opinion in Zimbabwe, where the number of white farmers has dropped to just over 200 from 4,500 when land reforms began 20 years ago, according to the predominantly white commercial farmers union.

Opponents see the reforms as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself, but its supporters say it has empowered landless Black people.

— Reporting for Reuters by MacDonald Dzirutwe.

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Under former President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe took over some 5,000 farms, mostly from white farmers, saying the policy was meant to address colonial imbalances. But the land seizures triggered economic collapse.

The southern African country’s new Constitution, agreed with the opposition in 2013, provides for compensation of all farmers whose land was seized by the state. However, Zimbabwe’s economic woes mean it has struggled to pay the former farmers.

It set aside US$17.5 million in its 2019 budget and a further 380 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$21 million) for the same purpose this year. The former farmers are demanding nearly US$7 billion in compensation, according to a committee representing them in negotiations with government.

In a change of approach, the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced Mugabe after a coup in 2017, is offering some of the dispossessed farmers land as compensation, according to the regulations.

The dispossessed farmers covered in the land compensation scheme are citizens of countries that have bilateral investment agreements with Zimbabwe, as well as some black Zimbabwean commercial farmers who lost their farms.

These countries include former colonial ruler Britain, South Africa, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, all of which had significant numbers of farmers in Zimbabwe.

It was not yet known whether the farmers would accept the offer.

In 2015, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which is part of the World Bank group, ordered Zimbabwe to pay US$196 million compensation to a Swiss-German family whose farm had been seized by the government.

Zimbabwe lost a bid to have the compensation award annulled in 2018.

Zimbabwe’s government is still in talks with white Zimbabwean farmers on compensation for the loss of their farms.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nelson Banya.

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Two decades ago Mugabe’s government carried out at times violent evictions of 4,500 white farmers and redistributed the land to around 300,000 black families, arguing it was redressing imbalances from the colonial era.

But land reform still divides public opinion as opponents see it as a partisan process that left the country struggling to feed itself.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government sees the paying of compensation to white farmers as key to mend ties with the West, and set aside US$17.5 million in this year’s budget to that end. The initial payments will target those in financial distress, while full compensation will be paid later.

“The registration process and list of farmers should be completed by the end of April 2019, after which the interim advance payments will be paid directly to former farm owners,” Zimbabwe’s ministries of finance and agriculture said in a joint statement on Monday.

They said the process to identify and register farmers for compensation was being undertaken the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) and a committee representing the farmers.

A committee comprising government officials and former farm owners is currently valuing improvements made on the farms. That process should end next month and will determine the full amount due to the farmers.

The government, which maintains it will only pay compensation for infrastructure and improvements on farms and not for the land, is talking to international financial institutions on options to raise the full amount to pay farmers.

Colonialists seized some of the best agricultural land and much of it remained in the hands of white farmers after independence in 1980, while many blacks were landless.

— Reporting for Reuters by MacDonald Dzirutwe.

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Fewer than 400 white farmers are still operating in the southern African nation, after former president Robert Mugabe’s government evicted more than 4,000 under an often-violent land reform program.

Those who remained were issued with five-year renewable leases by the state compared to 99-year leases for black farmers, leaving their land vulnerable to expropriation by the government.

The agriculture ministry circular to staff, seen by Reuters, says white farmers should now be issued the same 99-year leases as black farmers.

“Please be informed that the minister of Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement has directed that all remaining white farmers be issued 99-year leases instead of the five-year leases as per the previous arrangement,” said the circular, dated Jan. 19.

Land ownership is one of Zimbabwe’s most sensitive issues. Colonialists seized some of the best agricultural land and much of it remained in the hands of white farmers after independence in 1980, while many blacks were landless.

Twenty years later, Mugabe authorized the violent invasions of many white-owned farms, justifying them on the grounds that they were redressing imbalances from the colonial era.

Mugabe, 93, resigned in November after the army and his ZANU-PF party turned against him.

Earlier this month a government document showed that Zimbabwe is considering establishing a special tribunal to determine the value of compensation and how to pay it to white farmers who have lost their land since 2000.

Many white farmers challenged their evictions legally but lost. Under Zimbabwe’s constitution all agricultural land belongs to the government.

— Reporting for Reuters by MacDonald Dzirutwe.

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Perrance Shiri, a military hardliner who was head of the air force before being picked for the critical land and agriculture ministry this month, called for “unquestionable sanity on the farms,” the government-owned Herald newspaper reported.

Land is an emotive issue in the southern African nation after the violent invasion of white-owned farms in 2000 by supporters of former president Robert Mugabe, who defended the seizures as a necessary redress of colonial-era imbalances.

The seizures move sent the agricultural sector — the mainstay of Zimbabwe’s economy, once one of Africa’s most promising — into a tailspin, triggering a broader slump that saw GDP almost halve between 2000 and 2008.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced 93-year-old Mugabe as leader last month, has promised to stabilize the economy, including agriculture, and create jobs.

Reuters reported in September that Mnangagwa was plotting with the military, liberation war veterans and businessmen including current and former white farmers to take over from Mugabe, who resigned after a de facto military coup.

“All those who were illegally settled or who just settled themselves on resettlement land should vacate immediately,” Shiri was quoted as saying on the Herald’s website after meeting provincial ministers in Harare.

“Only those people with documentation of land occupancy and/or those who were allocated land legitimately should remain on the farms and concentrate on production unhindered.”

The Herald is the government’s main mouthpiece and reflects its thinking and intentions.

Peter Steyl, president of the mostly white Commercial Farmers Union told Reuters: “It’s still early days, my attitude is to wait a bit more, but I am encouraged by the message from the government which means that there will be room for former (white) farmers to come back.

“The government has a lot of problems to sort out (and) we have to be a bit patient,” he said.

A white farmer kicked off his property at gunpoint in June was told last week he could return within days, the first signs of the post-Mugabe government making good on promises to respect agricultural property rights.

White farmers have previously complained that politically connected people used state security agents to force them off their farms, sometimes even when they were in the middle of harvesting.

— Reporting for Reuters by MacDonald Dzirutwe.

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Most of South Africa’s land remains in white hands and many commercial and small-scale farmers are currently facing tough times because of the worst drought in at least a century.

The bill, in the works since 2008, will enable the state to pay for land at a value determined by a government adjudicator and then expropriate it for the “public interest,” ending the willing-buyer, willing-seller approach to land reform.

Experts say it will not signal the kind of often violent land grabs that took place in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where white-owned farms were seized by the government for redistribution to landless blacks.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) said the bill, criticized by some opposition parties and farming groups, would tackle injustices imposed during white-minority rule.

“The passing of the bill by parliament is historic and heralds a new era of intensified land distribution program to bring long-awaited justice to the dispossessed majority of South Africans,” the ANC said in a statement.

Some economists and farming groups have said the reform could hit investment and production at a time when South Africa is emerging from drought — pointing to the serious economic damage arising from farm seizures in Zimbabwe. They have also complained about a lack of clarity on how it will all work.

The ANC says land will only be expropriated after “just and equitable” compensation has been paid.

Around 20 million acres of land have been transferred to black owners since apartheid, equal to eight to 10 per cent of the land in white hands in 1994. The total is only a third of the 30 per cent targeted by the ANC.

The national assembly initially passed the bill in February before it was sent for amendments and it remains only for President Jacob Zuma to sign it into law.

— Reporting for Reuters by Joe Brock in Johannesburg.

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President Robert Mugabe early this month agreed to major reforms, including compensation for white farmers, as part of measures to end Zimbabwe’s isolation by the West.

Chinamasa told a meeting of farmers, Western ambassadors to Harare and government officials that the government would work with former white farmers to evaluate farms in order to reach an agreement on how much to pay in compensation.

The government had no money now to pay the farmers and would look to taxing black farmers who benefited from the seizures to contribute toward a compensation fund, he said.

“And of course it means that, in that respect, we have to start talking about treasury bills as well,” Chinamasa said.

Compensation would be paid to aged white farmers first while younger ones would be paid over time, he said, and Thursday’s meeting was part of efforts to mend relations with the West.

He declined to comment further on the issue.

New farm occupants working the land, many of whom had few farming skills when they were resettled, say they can barely make ends meet, let alone pay an extra levy.

Zimbabwe’s land seizures, along with allegations of vote-rigging and human rights abuses — all denied by Mugabe — led to Harare being targeted with sanctions by Western donors.

“Addressing compensation issues is a necessary condition to create a more favourable business climate and increase the level of confidence of foreign and domestic investors in the agriculture sector,” said Philippe Van Damme, the European Union ambassador to Harare.

Zimbabwe paid compensation to 240 farmers before 2008 out of the 6,214 farms that it has seized since 2000.

The southern African nation is now in the grip of a devastating drought that has left up to four million people facing hunger.

— Reporting for Reuters by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare.

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The new occupants working the land, many of who had few farming skills when they were resettled, say they can barely make ends meet, let alone pay an extra levy.

Their agricultural output is a fraction of the level seen before 2000, when President Robert Mugabe — saying he sought to correct colonial injustices — introduced land reforms which led to thousands of experienced white farmers being evicted.

They are also being hammered by Zimbabwe’s worst drought in a quarter of a century and toiling under a stagnating economy that has seen banks reluctant to lend and cheaper food imports from the likes of South Africa undermining their businesses.

“Are farmers able to pay? I will say no. Is the land being productive? I will say no again,” said Victor Matemadanda, secretary general of a group representing war veterans who led the land seizure drive in 2000 and are now farmers.

He told Reuters that many farmers could not even meet water and electricity bills and that it was the government’s obligation — not theirs — to pay the compensation.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Abdul Nyathi also said his members would not be able to pay compensation. “Most of the farmers face viability issues, the government will have to look at other ways of raising money,” he added.

Mugabe’s land reforms have led to about 5,000 white farmers being evicted from their land by his supporters and war veterans over the past 16 years, often violently. More than a dozen farmers have been killed.

The land seizures, along with allegations of vote-rigging and rights abuses — all denied by Mugabe — led to Zimbabwe being targeted by sanctions from Western donors. This compounded the economic plight of the country, which saw financing from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and African Development Bank frozen in 1999 after it defaulted on debts.

The IMF’s head of mission to Zimbabwe, Domenico Fanizza, said this month that improving fiscal discipline and re-engaging the international community should be priorities for Harare. He said this would “reduce the perceived country risk premium and unlock affordable financing for the government and private sector.”

Divided opinion

In an attempt to woo back international donors and lenders, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced a package of major reforms on March 9, including the farm measure and a big reduction in public-sector wages. He said it had the full backing of Mugabe.

The farm plan involves 300,000 families resettled on seized land paying an annual rent — based on the size of their farms — toward a compensation fund for those evicted.

If they are unable to pay, however, it could be a major setback for the government’s plans to shore up an economy that is stagnating after a deep recession in the decade to 2008, which slashed its output by nearly half, drove hundreds of thousands abroad in search of better paying jobs and has left the jobless rate at around 85 per cent.

The finance ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the ability of farmers to pay the levy.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya told Reuters that the farmers’ situation should improve once the government grants them 99-year leases on their land, which he said would make it easier for them to secure financing from banks and to pay rent towards the compensation fund.

All agricultural land in Zimbabwe is owned by the government and, at present, farmers have no legal claim on their farms — which they say has made banks reluctant to extend loans to buy seed and crop inputs. But the government says it will imminently grant the leases.

“We are saying that the land should produce, but we also know what the constraints are to increase production,” said Mangudya. “That is why we need to finalize on the 99-year land lease agreements to make them bankable so that farmers have security of tenure. With that there is no reason why farmers should not be able to pay (rent).”

Mugabe’s land reform program is a highly emotive issue, which has divided public opinion. Supporters say it has empowered blacks while opponents see it as a partisan process that left Zimbabwe struggling to feed itself.

“The land revolution was a necessity and if the economy was running very well farmers would be able to pay the rent,” said Matemadanda of the war veterans’ group. “The prevailing economic conditions do not allow.”

The land seizures have led to a steep fall in commercial agriculture output; yields for the staple maize have fallen to an average 0.5 tonnes per hectare from eight tonnes in 2000 when white farmers worked the land.

Mugabe acknowledged the skills of evicted white farmers last week, saying they had helped neighbouring Zambia to produce excess maize, which Zimbabwe was now importing.

Elections

A treasury ministry circular said that compensation would be paid out of rent from black farmers who benefited from the seizures. Chinamasa has not said when farmers would be expected to start paying the rents, or at what level they would be set.

When announcing the measures, he said production on black-owned farms was “scandalously low” and that the economy was under siege from the drought.

The white Zimbabweans who accounted for the majority of those evicted will be compensated only for the improvements they made to the farms, while the foreign owners forced out will be paid full compensation for land and improvements, under the plan.

Chinamasa said Harare broke bilateral investment agreements with other countries when it seized farms owned by foreigners.

Tony Hawkins, professor of business studies at the University of Zimbabwe, said the government was “going through the motions to keep the IMF happy.

“They probably want the international community to see that they are doing something,” he said. “I doubt they will press with this ahead of the elections,” he added, referring to the 2018 general election. Farmers are an important voting bloc for Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party.

Hundreds of evicted white Zimbabwean farmers are now farming in Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and Nigeria, while others migrated to Europe, New Zealand and Australia.

Hendrik Olivier, director at the formerly white-dominated Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said the government had not yet approached evicted farmers to discuss compensation, and also cast doubt on the plan’s viability.

The CFU, which once boasted 4,500 farmers who produced 90 per cent of Zimbabwe’s export crops, including tobacco and horticulture produce until 2000, now only has 300 members.

“It’s a huge step forward, let’s acknowledge that. In the past the government has said that it won’t pay compensation,” Olivier told Reuters.

“But if you are talking about new farmers paying a levy, that’s not gonna work, that’s not gonna pay our compensation.”

— MacDonald Dzirutwe is a Reuters correspondent based in Harare.

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Once the breadbasket of the region, Zimbabwe has since 2000 struggled to feed its people due to droughts and President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks, which badly affected commercial agriculture.

Catriona Laing, Britain’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, said with 70 per cent of Zimbabweans living in rural areas and mostly surviving on farming, supporting agriculture would speed up economic recovery.

The money would be paid out through the Food And Agriculture Organization and other relief agencies.

Zimbabwe and Britain have had frosty ties since 2000, with London, the European Union and United States accusing Mugabe of rigging elections and human rights abuses.

Mugabe denies the charges, saying Britain is leading the West in trying to remove him from power as punishment for the land seizures.

— Reporting for Reuters by MacDonald Dzirutwe.

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