Posted by 
HARARE, Oct 8 – The European Union is providing seed and fertiliser worth 15.4 million euros ($22.73 million) to small-scale Zimbabwean farmers to boost grain production, an EU diplomat said on Thursday.
The EU, which maintains sanctions against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle over charges of human rights abuses and electoral fraud, remains one of the country’s largest donors, giving more than 510 million euros since 2002.
Mugabe and long-term rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February to try to end a political and economic crisis, largely blamed on Mugabe’s drive to seize land from whites to resettle landless blacks.
Once a breadbasket of the region, Zimbabwe’s farming sector has collapsed.
The head of the European Commission in Zimbabwe, Xavier Marchal, told a meeting of agricultural experts and donors assessing the preparations for the farming season that the EU facility was aimed at improving household food security.
“The EC, on behalf of the EU, has signed an agreement with FAO (the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation), which will provide 15.4 million euros to support self-reliance at smallholder farmer level in Zimbabwe,” Marchal said.
“This programme is part of a wider EC policy aiming at moving this country from food aid to food security.”
When food shortages were at their peak in 2008, aid organisations were feeding about 7 million Zimbabweans, more than half the population.
The EU facility is part of a $74 million fund created by donors, including the World Bank and Britain’s Department for International Development, to support up to 700,000 small-scale farmers.
The donors’ project is expected to produce about 450,000 tonnes of the staple maize grain and meet a quarter of Zimbabwe’s annual requirements.
The government has forecast total maize output at up to 2.5 million tonnes, more than last year’s production, but farmers’ unions doubt the projection, citing input shortages and poor preparations.
Marchal said the EU would increase direct assistance to Zimbabwe once talks launched by Tsvangirai in Brussels in June were successfully concluded.
“But more importantly, government has to take its responsibilities. The decline in agricultural production is indeed related to issues relating to the way the land and agrarian reform programme has been conducted,” he said.
Additional Reporting: By Nelson Banya, Reuters
Lies. Bloody lies. Inflating figures is not going to help. Bloody whites!!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Can you just imagine what the conditions in Zimbabwe would be like with out the funding from those bloody whites.Those bloody whites are keeping those poor blacks alive because their own bloody government can’t.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
At least the bloody whites know how to farm and if they were still allowed to farm you wouldn’t need support. Oh and by the way, the bloody whites know how to govern as well, in a fair and non brutal way. Believe it or not their are many bloody whites around the world who happen to care about the people of Zimbabwe and fortunately we are bright enough to ignore unhelpful comments such as yours Mukoma Pedzie.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
thank the bloody whites for coming to the aid of our man made problem. Gono cannot print money at will to appease a few Zanu farmers causing runaway inflation.
Let the old man leave then Zim will never be the same again. And you Mukoma Pedzie will enjoy it when Mogiza will be the new President. What is currently happening is a taste of many good things to come. Start getting used to the new dispensation.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
If I go into my barn and put peanut butter on a mouse trap, that does not mean I love that poor mouse. I hope you catch the drift. Most of these monies find their way into zanu pf and MDC-T pockets anyway. By the time it gets to Nembudziya, it will be only USD15000 for the whole country
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The bloody whites love Zim and they fed your mouth pedzie, and when you chased them away you had no food and now your family is starving at home. Thanks to the bloody whites after you had chased them they conntinue to feed you. I think you are ungrateful pedzie let the white show their kindness and you show your evil heartedness.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Come on guys be civil to my elder brother Pedzie. You missed his point, it was all about inflating figures. I think the inflated figure my brother is talking about is the 2.5 million tonnes of maize. Who came up with that figure. It certainly was not the EU. It comes from one, Joseph Mad who specialises in viewing “sora” farms and making strange projections. Come to think of it, the elections involved a lot of inflated figures! Mukoma has a point this practice of inflating figures has not helped the decaying party. As a proud supporter of this dead party, my Mukoma has a right to say “inflating figures is not going to help.” what about the bloody whites? Well you see my brother is a personal body guard to some foul mouthed guy. Mukoma is very poor in English (he happened to learn from the same school as Chinotimba) and so only borrowed a phrase from his master. Please forgive him for he knoweth not what he tries to write!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0