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Potato pillagers add to Zimbabwe's list of mounting woes

As economic hardship and food shortages bite in Zimbabwe, thieves are mounting armed raids on potato farms near the capital Harare, the state-controlled Herald reported yesterday.

Thieves armed with axes, spears and sling-shots in groups of up to 80 people have assaulted guards, killed their dogs and stolen potatoes worth 1 billion Zimbabwe dollars (US$38,000) from Stamford and Goodhope Farms over the past three months, it said.

"While a selected group will be fighting the guards, a larger group will be digging for the potatoes before getting away with their loot," the Herald said.

"The latest raid was on Saturday night when two security guards were injured and two dogs killed in the skirmishes," the paper added.

The report said the stolen potatoes are sold in the capital Harare for up to 250,000 Zimbabwe dollars a sack.

Zimbabwe is in the grips of its worst economic crisis in 25 years of independence, with inflation close to 360 percent and spiraling poverty and shortages of basic commodities, including the staple maize meal.

President Robert Mugabe's government, which has refused to make an international appeal for food aid, claims it is importing sufficient quantities of maize meal to feed its 11.6 million people.

Last month Mugabe said in an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly summit that while maize meal was in short supply due to drought, the country has "heaps of potatoes."

"We have heaps of potatoes but people are not potato eaters ... they have rice but they're not as attracted [to that]," he was quoted as saying.

Zimbabwe was once dubbed the grain basket of southern Africa due to its bumper harvests of maize. However, following several years of drought and a controversial land-reform program launched five years ago that saw the seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks, harvests have plummeted.
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