BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
THE limited access to markets, due to the on-going national lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19, has resulted in massive loss of jobs for farmworkers, with women being mostly affected, a new report has revealed.
In its latest situational report focusing on the agricultural sector, the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) says coronavirus has caused disruptions within the sector, affecting large-scale, smallholder as well as communal farmers, farm workers and the community at large.
The agriculture sector is of strategic importance to the country’s economy given its massive contribution to employment, strategic linkages to other industries and the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
“The limited access to markets has resulted in massive loss of jobs for farmworkers, with women being the worst affected.
“The limited access to both markets and disposable income has also seen 150 employees being placed on indefinite unpaid leave at RD Flower Farm,” the report reads in part.
“Fixed term contracts in a number of farms have also not been renewed, harsh operating conditions being cited.
“Women form the bulk of workers on most farms especially at the lower level paying jobs along most value chains.”
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Zela said the casualisation of labour in the agriculture sector meant that there were no wages accruing and that the burden of limited access to markets had been weighing heavily on farm workers.
“The unequal distribution of the huge benefits of the agriculture sector being enjoyed by farmers when it is thriving and how the brunt of devastating consequences of the pandemic falls on the workers points to a need to revisit employee benefit schemes in the agriculture sector so they get a fair share,” Zela added.
“Although some farms have provided mealie-meal and cooking oil to the workers to cushion some of the impacts of layoffs, a longer-term sustainable solution will be required.
“Household food security for farmworkers remains a huge concern.”
It said women would continue to be at the forefront of confronting increasing hunger in their homes as they were primary providers of food, despite being laid off on the farms.
“The layoffs affect more women than men on the farms meaning women will have less income than men in farming communities and face difficulties in accessing alternative sexual and reproductive health services from private providers,” the report notes.
“Clinics on the farms may not be equipped to handle this given the impact on income of farmers due to limited access to markets.”
Progressive Agriculture and Allied Industries Workers Union of Zimbabwe (Paawuz) general secretary Raymond Sixpence noted that farm owners were more worried about production on farms while exposing workers to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said workers were being forced to go to work without adequate protective clothing.
Philip Mafundu, the Paawuz organising secretary said employers and the government only appeared to be interested in production on farms, leaving farm workers on their own.
“Now with Covid-19 in the picture, the sector was declared an essential service and workers have been going to work all along without any protection equipment or even knowledge on how they can protect themselves from contacting the coronavirus,” Mufundu said.
“We said it clearly that the farmers were not ready and prepared to make their work places safe for work but that fell on deaf ears.”
He said the government had even gone out of its way to ensure that tobacco merchants were not exposed to the coronavirus by delaying the opening of auction floors for the golden leaf until safety measures were in place, but did not do anything for the farm workers.
Mufundu added: The tobacco auction floors opened (last) week and all I could hear from the authorities was how the auction floors are safe, how auction floor workers, sellers and buyers are safe and protected from the exposure to the virus, but no one bothered to ask where the tobacco is coming from, those who harvested it, graded it, packed it into those bales, are they safe?”
Zela said efforts had been made by the Commercial Farmers Union to provide PPE on some farms, but employees at smallholder farms remained at risk.
