HARARE – Zimbabwe’s state-owned Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) is on a drive to lease out to private companies all its estates that lie derelict after years of mismanagement as it tries to improve the country’s agriculture production.

Condemned as a corruption-infested institution with decaying infrastructure, a senior ARDA official said the agriculture concern wanted to create green zones on its estates while returning it to viability.

The southern African country has since 2001 largely lived on food aid from Western donors after the spectacular collapse of its agriculture sector, the backbone of the economy, which is attributed to President Robert Mugabe’s often violent and chaotic seizures of white-owned commercial farms.

“We will start with leasing about 4 000 hectares of land from our farms dotted around the country, and we will also seek joint partnerships,” the official, who is not authorised to speak to the media told ZimOnline.

ARDA has dozens of farms and estates, with land totalling more than 450 000 hectares, which agriculture experts say could easily produce half of Zimbabwe’s grain needs on a commercial scale.

The official, who is part of a team spearheading the programme, said the success of a pilot venture in Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi between ARDA and two companies, Macdom Pvt (Ltd) and Ratings Investment, owned by business tycoon Billy Rautenbach, had prompted ARDA to lease all its derelict land.

In the Chisumbanje venture Macdom is growing sugarcane for production of ethanol while Ratings Investments is growing wheat in Middle Sabi.

“That is the template we are using because it guarantees optimal use of the land and we as ARDA get to share in the profits as well. The companies will also develop infrastructure on the estates,” the official said.

ARDA is best remembered for seizing, in 2005, Kondozi Estates in Manicaland province, then one of the most productive farms in the country, which has since been turned it into a large derelict piece of land.

The institution was set up to spearhead agricultural and rural development with increased support to smallholder farmers to facilitate the production of sufficient high-quality food for the nation and generate employment and income on a sustainable basis.

But the parastatals has for years been ridden by deep rooted corruption, looting of agriculture inputs, equipment and livestock, with ministers from Mugabe’s previous governments benefiting the most.

Senior ARDA officials say Mugabe’s personal farm manager and adviser, Joseph Made, who remains Agriculture Minister since 2000, has taken machinery from ARDA for use at some of the 86-year-old leader’s farms.

The agriculture authority is failing to account for 428 tractors, part of a consignment bought from Iran between 2007 and 2008. – ZimOnline