Harare - Zimbabwe has confiscated agricultural equipment and machinery left behind and idle on commercial farms compulsorily acquired from whites, the official Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.
It quoted John Nkomo, chairperson of a land committee appointed by President Robert Mugabe, as saying the equipment - including tractors, harvesters, trailers and irrigation pipes - was being allocated to deserving resettled wheat farmers.
"This equipment is owned by former commercial farmers who are largely hostile and unsupportive to the land reform programme," Nkomo said in a statement.
Mugabe's government introduced new regulations in December allowing it to seize such equipment and redistribute it.
Mugabe drew international criticism when he embarked on a drive to seize large tracts of white-owned farms for blacks he says were dispossessed of the land when Britain colonised the country over a century ago.
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Critics say disruptions to commercial agriculture linked to land reform have contributed to acute food shortages that have affected millions of Zimbabweans over the past three years.
Mugabe's government blames the food shortages on drought, and says opponents of its land seizures have sabotaged Zimbabwe's economy, leading to acute shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency, as well as record inflation and unemployment.
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