US embassy cable - 02HARARE1870

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001870 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF, AF/S SDELISI, MRAYNOR 
AA/AFR CNEWMAN 
DCHA WGARVELINK, DSKORIC, CWTHAGELMAN, LLANDIS 
AFR/SA KPOE, MWILLIAMS, MCOPSON 
AFR/DP RBUCKLEY 
DCHA/OFDA DHAJJAR 
PPC RMCCALL, DMAXWELL 
NSC JDWORKIN AND SENIOR DIRECTOR FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, PGOV, ZI 
SUBJECT: NGO AGRICULTURAL RECOVERY 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  US Embassy and USAID/Zimbabwe recommend 
OFDA approval of three non-food humanitarian assistance 
proposals submitted by CARE, CRS, and World Vision.  Post does 
not believe that targeted beneficiaries - communal farmers - 
should be the primary focus of humanitarian assistance in 
Zimbabwe; however, these programs are very small in scope, will 
not have a significant policy impact, and can be mobilized 
quickly to assist approximately 80,000 deserving families 
severely affected by the food crisis in Zimbabwe. Post remains 
convinced that the swelling number of IDPs - principally 
commercial farm workers and their families displaced by the 
chaotic land reform program - should be the major focus of OFDA 
recovery programs in Zimbabwe.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) The primary USG response to the current complex food 
crisis in Zimbabwe has been to provide food for direct 
distribution to the most needy people through a major 
contribution to the World Food Program relief effort and 
 
 
through a separate food distribution program with World Vision. 
There is general agreement in the donor community that the 
current crisis will continue until farmers revive agricultural 
production. Current GOZ policies continue to be the major 
constraint to that effort. Nonetheless, post believes that a 
small agricultural recovery program carefully targeted to the 
most vulnerable families in communal areas is worthy of support 
and will not adversely affect the broader policy environment. 
 
3. (SBU) Three US NGOs have submitted proposals to develop 
agricultural recovery programs in support of the USG effort to 
respond to the complex food crisis in Zimbabwe:  CARE, Catholic 
Relief Services (CRS), and World Vision International (WVI). 
The combined programs would provide seed inputs for 
approximately 80,000 established communal area farmers that are 
the most destitute and who are be expected to benefit the least 
from any government assistance.  They will be coordinated with 
both existing and proposed food distribution and feeding 
programs.  The programs will provide inputs to allow for 
agriculture production at a subsistence level for the most 
vulnerable families in the communal areas (e.g., women and 
child-headed households, families affected by chronic illness). 
 
4.  (SBU) Seeds will consist of locally purchased, drought- 
tolerant packages of maize, sorghum, millet, cowpeas and black- 
eyed-beans, where/as appropriate.   The duration of each 
program would be approximately 6 months.   The US NGOs would 
target established communal area farmers who have the 
capability to farm, but no finances; women or child-headed 
households; families severely affected from chronic illness 
(e.g., HIV/AIDS, TB, cancer); the elderly and disabled; and 
those who lost their crops in 2002.  All beneficiaries would 
have to have access to land and be able to farm to be 
considered for the program. 
 
5. (SBU) Each of the US NGOs would work in districts where they 
currently have programs operating.  These would include 
districts in the provinces of Matabeleland South, Matabeleland 
North, Masvingo, and Midlands. 
 
6. (SBU) The proposed OFDA contribution would be:  CARE 
US$600,000; CRS US$1,100,000 (includes US$500,000 for 
health/feeding interventions for approximately 150,000 people); 
and WVI US$500,000. 
 
 
7. (SBU) Post believes that any agricultural recovery program 
must take into consideration how much can be accomplished in 
the current environment of counterproductive macroeconomic and 
agriculture sector policies. Post also believes that an 
agricultural recovery program could operate to shield the GOZ 
from the harsh effects of its bad policies and, therefore, 
provide a disincentive for the GOZ to fix the underlying causes 
of low agricultural production. 
 
8. (SBU) Even taking these concerns into consideration, 
however, post recommends that this small-scale intervention be 
approved. These programs are targeted at providing subsistence- 
level production for the most vulnerable families, and will not 
work with farmers whose activities have an impact on overall 
agricultural production levels.  Also, because it is modest in 
scale, the intervention is not expected to have an impact - 
positive or negative - on the economic policy environment in 
the agriculture sector, which impedes increased agricultural 
production.  Nonetheless, these small-scale programs will 
mitigate the humanitarian crisis by reducing the number of 
vulnerable people next season who require emergency food 
assistance. 
 
9. (SBU) Finally, post continues to be concerned about the 
situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who are 
primarily displaced black farm workers.  IDPs have suffered 
directly from the GOZ's fast-track land resettlement program 
and do not typically have communal structures in place to 
support them, as do farmers residing in communal areas.  It is 
also estimated that the number of IDPs could reach nearly 2 
million people by the end of the year.  For these reasons, post 
believes that the IDP situation should be the highest priority 
for humanitarian resources as the next step in USG assistance. 
During his July 21-23 visit to Zimbabwe, USAID Assistant 
Administrator/DCHA Roger Winter indicated that USAID/Washington 
would discuss the IDP issue with UN/OCHA and encourage OCHA to 
urgently develop a program to respond to their plight.  Post 
recommends that USAID/Washington continue these discussions and 
advise post on progress. SULLIVAN