The Sunday Mail
Monica Chinamasa
The Zimbabwe National Farmers’ Union is a wholly farmer-owned and driven organisation which was launched in 2007. The emergence of our union was a result of misrepresentation and a lack of understanding by many stakeholders of the plight and mood of the then newly-resettled farmers. It was registered in terms of the Farmers Licensing and Levy Act (Chapter 18:10) with a mandate to advance its members’ interests to achieve higher economic growth and uplift standards of living through adoption of conservation farming.
The union is funded through membership subscriptions and donations.
It is a strong and vibrant union that genuinely strives to represent its constituency, and plays a vital role in complementing Government efforts.
The ZNFU’s mission statement is very clear.
In brief, it is: (a) to expose and dismantle remnants of the colonial land tenure system, and (b) to harmonise the working relationship among the country’s farmers’ unions in order to unite them into a single formidable national farmers’ union.
It needs no emphasis that agriculture is the backbone of the economy, providing inputs and resources for the manufacturing sector and livelihoods for over 70 percent of our population.
Agricultural enterprises are carried out in old resettlement, small-scale commercial, communal, A1 and A2 resettlement farming sectors.
Thus our organisation is critical and has helped farmers in many ways, which include:
(a) taking the whole value chain of agriculture from production through to marketing as a business;
(b) lobbying for fair rewards for the production efforts of farmers;
(c) lobbying for people to be afforded agricultural land, policy support and resources for farming;
(d) making information on all links in the value chain, from production through to marketing, readily available to its membership;
(e) engaging with suppliers to ensure appropriate timing for inputs in the right quantity and quality;
(f) minimising uncertainty through market research to improve quality and also availability of the markets;
(g) promoting productivity and efficiency through snaring ideas and better methods of agriculture; and
(h) helping to foster synergies through backward and forward linkages, value-addition and technology transfer.
Changing roles
However, like all other farmers’ unions and commodity associations, we can never do enough to attract and retain membership. Farmers are now business-minded and take into consideration various factors before joining any farmers’ union or association.
The extent of dependence, the extent of availability and the extent of assurance of availability of favourable outputs from being a member are directly and positively correlated with farmers’ participation in unions and associations.
Farmers also take into consideration the impact on his or her farming venture which would result from being part of a union or association.
They will think and develop opinions on whether the rewards associated with their membership of union will be distributed equitably and whether these will be distributed within the required timeframe.
And, of course, the costs associated with being a member must compare positively with the outcome of participation in a farmers’ organisation.
The union, on its part, in order to be successful, will need clarity of mission, sound governance, strong, responsive and accountable leadership, social inclusion, demand-driven and focused service delivery, high technical and managerial capacity and effective engagement with external actors.
The environment facing farmers’ organisations has changed.
In particular, the public sector role has been reduced and a new emphasis is being placed on creating space for private sector and developing institutional partnerships for service provision and natural resource management.
An aggressive, systematic and well-choreographed contract farming production and marketing structure is now firmly upon us.
This has resulted in the shunning of farmers’ unions and farmers being compelled to be part of these straight jacket contract production systems.
If our farmers’ organisations are to capitalise on the positive aspects of these changes, they must be dynamic, flexible and probably somewhat opportunistic.
One way of doing this would be to decentralise and increase decision-making process to the ward or village level.
Another way is for unions to enter into strategic partnerships with these private sector players in four key areas: seed and input provision; extension and education; market access; and advocacy and policy engagement.
Such partnerships can be of great assistance because our unions in general have meagre resources, limited organisational and technical capabilities.
However, striking the correct balance between (a) reliance on external and external resources, accountability and pro-active leadership, adaptive and effective governance, and over and under-ambition, is a great challenge indeed.
We are all aware that Government extension services are stretched and are increasingly limited in scope. Here, a union can assist by fostering farmer-to-farmer extension programmes through various fora, such as, discussion groups, field days, field schools and social networks.
More can be done for our farmers if the ZNFU continues to probe and explore the use of topical entry points, such as the proposed commodity exchanges and global agricultural chains.
There is need to put our minds together to find ways of improving viability by minimising the costs and maximising productivity.
One way around this perennial challenge is to look for ways in which our farmers can add value to their raw produce at the farm before taking it to the market or to the consumer.
Farming is key to our economy and in all our farming activities, we should be promoting production in a sustainable manner while conserving environment, that is, the soil, the water bodies, trees, and the air.
Thus in the face of the climate change phenomenon, it is prudent for the union to promote cropping diversification to the production of small grains as an option to counter drought and food insecurity.
Another obvious way to fight this is through establishment of irrigation systems, so that farmers can supplement rainfall or even carry out cropping programmes all-year round.
In addition, the promoting staggered crop planting is also important so that farmers are guaranteed of harvesting something, although early planting has always given highest yields in normal seasons.
Apart from food security, we should also focus on nutrition as it is equally important. This can be done through raising small livestock , planting fruit trees and establishing diversified household vegetable gardens.
Concluding remarks
The union will continue with its drive for increased membership and strengthening its structures. The ZNFU will continue rolling out its various programmes to empower farmers.
It will also put greater efforts to standing by and implementing its vision, which reads “To restore and sustain Zimbabwe’s breadbasket status and her reputation as an internationally acclaimed producer of worldclass agricultural products”.
The weather forecast for this coming season is for normal-to-above-normal rainfall; therefore farmers should plant their crops as early as possible.
I also urge farmers to consider participating in the national crop programmes to create food and nutrition security. The agricultural sector in general has not been immune to corruption and illegal activities.
Ultimately, the most effective way for stamping out corruption is for all stakeholders to work together for a common cause. Finally, while Government will always do its best to assist, I urge farmers to speedily plan ahead and secure adequate inputs in time for the start of the 2016-2017 agricultural season.
Mrs Monica Chinamasa is president of the Zimbabwe National Farmers’ Union. She made these remarks at the union’s congress in Harare last week
