Nigeria rescues banished Zimbabwean farmers

[Richard Akindele]

Forced off his land in Zimbabwe, 60-year-old Hunter Coetzee has farming in his blood, but it's Nigerian soil under his fingernails now after the first harvest in his new home.

"Nigeria has offered us hope and succour. We are here for good," he said contentedly, six years after he thought he had lost everything.

Coetzee is one of 13 white Zimbabwe commercial farmers who accepted an offer to resettle in Shonga, about 110km north of Ilorin, the capital of central state of Kwara where they began farming in June last year.

They all fled Zimbabwe after the government of President Robert Mugabe embarked on its controversial land-redistribution programme in February 2000, seizing prime farmland from about 4 000 white farmers and handing it over to the landless black majority.

"We are here at the invitation of the state government," Coetzee said. "It's been one year now, and we have harvested our first crops of maize and Soya beans."

Their first hesitant visit was in 2003, accepting a Kwara state offer to inspect farm sites. Today, their families have all joined them in Nigeria.

"I have in my warehouse 600 tons of maize ready for sale. My colleagues have between 500 and 1 000 tons each and the price is competitive," said Coetzee, pointing to thousands of grain sacks in a big compound near his 1 000ha farm.

He hailed Kwara Governor Bukola Saraki for his agriculture programme, which aims to boost production in food and cash crops for both local consumption and export as well as develop local agri-processing.

"The governor has been vindicated for his wise decision to bring us here after we were rejected by our own government," he said.

"With time we will not only feed Nigeria, we will also bring in foreign exchange by exporting surplus grains abroad." The goodwill is shared in Kwara state, where agricultural officials said the project is right on target.

"The Zimbabweans have lived up to their billing as skilled and successful commercial farmers," said official Hassan Lawal. "We salute the farmers for their commitment and the faith in this government."

The project also includes farm-extension activities to transfer knowledge and techniques into the small-scale subsistence-farming sector.

"The objective is to turn Kwara into the food basket of the country and to subsequently make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production," Lawal said.

Under the deal with the government, each white farmer got 1 000ha on a 25-year lease, along with a $250 000 interest-free loan.

The government also agreed to provide a guarantee for another $250 000 loan for each farmer from commercial banks.

The only complaint so far is what farmers said were difficulties in obtaining the bank loans.

"All we want is for the government to put pressure on the banks to give us loans for our business and to also link our farms with the public power supply because we are spending a lot to run our generators," said Coetzee.

Farm manager Kehinde Oyewo felt "we would have performed better if we had got the necessary assistance from the banks. As soon as the needed funding is ready, we will go into dairy."

Undaunted, the farmers will soon start their second year of planting.

"We have cleared more hectares for the second phase of the project. The target is to double harvests," said Oyewo.

For community leader Yusuf Haliru, the presence of the Zimbabweans has created jobs and gotten the region more notice.

"Visitors and investors in agriculture-related fields troop in and out of our community these days despite the poor condition of the roads.

"This is a positive development. Besides, over 2 000 of our people have been employed by the foreigners on their farms," he said.

"As hosts, their coming is a blessing. We are ready to welcome more white farmers and their families," he said.

Coetzee, who employs 150 people, said the 13 white farmers "source our materials locally".

"It is part of our agreement with the government. We are not here only to boost food production, we also have to empower the people by creating jobs and business opportunities for them.

"There are no regrets for leaving Zimbabwe," said Coetzee, who came from the town of Mhangura.

Pointing to the expansive four-bedroom bungalow he shares with his wife and two sons when they are home from school in Zimbabwe, he said: "We have found a new home in Nigeria. The people are receptive, friendly and accommodating."

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, is in its seventh year of economic recession characterised by four-digit inflation and shortages of basic foodstuffs. At least 80% of the population lives below the poverty threshold.

In power since independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe blames the woes on Western countries like Britain and the United States, which he accuses of plotting to bring about his downfall.

But Coetzee disagrees. "President Mugabe is the architect of the problems because of his ill-conceived land-redistribution policy.

"His government took our land and gave them to their brothers who could not farm, now the country is in a mess," he said.

Even if the policy is reversed, he would not return to a country where Zimbabwe's white-dominated Commercial Farmers' Union says only 600 white farmers remain.

"It is too late to do that. Where do you start from? The damage has been done."

Nigeria has "given us the tools to work. Only a fool will not reciprocate that gesture by helping the government to succeed in its agriculture programme," he said.