Farmers push on as land grab compensation flounders

IN A FIELD of paprika plants in the heart of Zimbabwe, fourth-generation farmer Daniel Burger and relative newcomer Miriam Mupambawashe discuss the quality of the crop.

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Burger, 36, and Mupambawashe, 59, are neighbours and partners in efforts to revive the country's once-flourishing agriculture sector cut down by a ruinous land reform drive in the 2000s.

The reform distributed land from the white minority, which still owned most of the best farmland 20 years after independence in 1980, to the black majority.

Around 4 000 white-owned farms were confiscated, some with deadly violence. Mupambawashe was among thousands who received land. Though she initially knew little about farming, her small subsistence plot now thrives.

Other farms failed or were abandoned, with some new tenants unschooled in agriculture and others - including politicians who were handed land uninterested.

"There was a bit of a tough period through the 2000s and, unfortunately, I think it sort of refuelled racial tensions to an extent," Burger told AFP.

"But being so passionate about farming was the motivator for me to move forward," he said.