White farmers struggling in Mozambique without state assistance
Kevin Gifford left his farm in Zimbabwe six years ago, hoping to make his fortune by turning bush land in neighbouring Mozambique into a flourishing tobacco farm.
“My family pioneered what was Rhodesia in 1894, I sort of see myself in those shoes, except that I have technology on my side. We were coming into nothing agriculture-wise,” he says. [we don't miss you pioneers kevin. thank you very much]
Like many of the Zimbabweans who came to Mozambique, Mr Gifford was on a scheme sponsored by an international tobacco firm. [we don't know what firm] “The real shock to the Zimbabweans was that the support structures they had enjoyed back home simply did not exist in Mozambique,” says Mr Hanlon, a senior lecturer in international development at the UK’s Open University.There were no government loans for irrigation or electrification, nor any research available from the Ministry of Agriculture on, for example, the best maize to plant. [you ever heard this part before in the media propaganda war against Mugabe? poor Blacks were always paying for the so.called breadbasket]
