The Sunday Mail
The phrase “once bitten, twice shy” is an idiom which means that a person who has had a bad experience will be more cautious the next time.
To some farmers, however, it seems they are yet to learn from the bad experiences they encountered with fraudsters.
Only last year, more than 120 farmers were duped of their hard-earned cash in a dubious agricultural input scheme.
Lasch Investments entered into an agreement with farmers in which the farmers were to be given inputs after meeting specific requirements.
The farmers paid US$36 as joining fee, US$29,60 per hectare as insurance fee and a further US$5 was paid directly to Arex.
Lasch failed to provide some of the farmers with the promised inputs and after a lengthy trial, the officials were acquitted of the fraud charges. The farmers got nothing.
As the rainy season approaches, fraudsters targeting farmers have once again descended on the unsuspecting farmers, and are offering dubious input schemes.
A number of companies and individuals are currently engaging farmers, from whom they are demanding money.
Farmer organisations are warning farmers from entertaining companies and individuals that are bypassing the unions.
The president of the Commercial Farmers Union, Mr Wonder Chabikwa, says farmers should learn from past mistakes.
“These dubious people do this every year. Farmers must learn from past experiences. We cannot allow a situation in which our farmers are duped of thousands of dollars every season. We have so far received countless complaints,” Mr Chabikwa said.
Mr Chabikwa called upon farmers to consult the unions they are affiliated to each time they are approached by people claiming to offer input schemes.
“What the farmers need to do is to simply approach the union and seek verification. As farmers we do not have legal minds and as such we must not rush to sign papers that will result in us being prejudiced,” Mr Chabikwa said.
Mr Chabikwa said ZCFU is negotiating with the private sector with the hope of linking the farmers with genuine players.
Once the union agrees with the partners, farmers will be given fuel, herbicides and other essential inputs.
Asked why the union cannot introduce its own input schemes, Mr Chabikwa said it is not the mandate of unions to run input schemes.
“Our core business is not input schemes but to represent the farmers. Unions are not capable of initiating such schemes. We can only make recommendations to the farmers when they are approached by those purporting to offer such schemes,” added Mr Chabikwa.
The executive director of the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, Mr Paul Zakariya, also warned farmers against doing business with individuals without first consulting unions.
Mr Zakariya said farmers are desperate to acquire inputs, a factor which makes them vulnerable to the bogus elements.
“Every year farmers are swindled. We encourage them to get confirmation from third parties when dealing with input schemes.
“Some of our farmers are, however, so desperate to the extent of believing whatever lies they are told,” Mr Zakariya said.
According to Mr Zakariya, the ZFU has 740 designated meeting places across the country where farmers occasionally meet to discuss issues affecting them.
The ZFU, according to Mr Zakariya, is working with reputable companies who are contracting farmers.
The union has also facilitated market linkages for farmers.
“We do background checks and confirmations before we link the farmers with the contractors. We have, however, faced problems each time as farmers often default on payments or side market their produce. This erodes the private sector’s confidence in farmers,” Mr Zakariya said.
In some instances, however, the farmers are left with nothing after paying off the contracting companies.
The ZFU is also working closely with irrigation schemes where contract farming has been introduced.
The farmers are targeting the export market.
“We introduced contract farming to such irrigation schemes as Negomo in Mazowe and Tsunda in Bindura. Before we provide the linkages, the farmers are thoroughly trained in such capacity building aspects as taking farming as a business and financial literacy among other areas,” added Mr Zakariya.
He advised farmers to report to police those individuals and companies that are duping them of their cash.
“As of now, no company has been sanctioned by unions to enter into input schemes with farmers.
Farmers should raise alarm each time they are approached by suspected fraudsters. We cannot allow a situation where dubious characters approach farmers without first talking to unions and then defraud the farmers. This must come to an end,” concluded Mr Zakariya.
