WHEN YOU GIVE BACK WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU…

White Farmer not bitter about losing farm

“In fact we helped the very people who took our land” – Brian Oldrieve

Leeds(ZimEye)One of Zimbabwe’s decorated farmers who lost his own farm has stated that he is not bitter about having lost his farm lands during his country’s violent land reform program.

Brian Oldrieve who now spends time training upcoming black farmers and imparting to them his treasured farming skills, replied:

“Not at all.”

He stated that he recognises that the land belongs to God and not to any individual:

“I mean we had our farm taken and I suppose our normal livelihood… but we are not bitter at all because first of all we are Christians and we believe that God gives and He takes away. The land belongs to God and He will chose whoever he wants to be stewards of that…We submit to God’s wisdom and greater knowledge on that.”

Oldrieve added that land reform was bound to happen:

“We are not bitter at all because actually the transition had to happen; Sure it wasn’t done in a very good way, but it’s also helped us now to teach full time;and so from having a farm in Africa, now we farm Africa; we have been called to 28 countries in Africa to teach and to create a model within Zimbabwe. We are very grateful for this amazing opportunity to concentrate on what we do now. In fact we helped the very people who took our land,” he said.

Apart from the 28 African nations who are tapping into Oldrieve’s wealth of knowledge, the farmer revealed that he, together with his team of other banished farmers have been called to Austria (where he has lectured to PHD students), Australia where two potential centres have already been setup, India, USA, six calls to Haiti, one call from Trinidad, the United Kingdom (where two training centres are being setup), Mexico and the Ukraine, the latter two nations which are yet to be visited.

Oldrieve said his project ‘Foundations For Farming’ made strides having been accepted by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture who are reported to have donated an Agritex centre for research and training development.

Dubbed ‘Zero Tillage’, the farmer’s farming innovation is a simple and yet highly cost-effective procedure that does not utilise tilling and the use of chemical components as in professional commercial agriculture. It however has the potential to produce 400% yields greater than the best commercial farmer can produce. Oldrieve said he learnt this method from studying Bible scriptures. After he gave up a lucrative tobacco farming enterprise in 1982, he was convinced that he had been farming a crop produce that was detrimental to people’s health.

Since Oldrieve began his ‘Foundations For Farming’ project, numerous testimonials of its success have been documented practically proving the effectiveness thereof. Many of the beneficiaries are unemployed rural dwellers who would not have afforded expensive implements such as fertilisers.

A visibly humble Oldrieve mentioned a passage in the Bible that ‘God uses the weak things of this world to confound the wisdom of the wise’.

Oldrieve was speaking to ZimEye at Leeds on Saturday during a Global Native function in the city centre. [Watch this space for Foundations For Farming testimonials.]

(ZimEye -United Kingdom, Zimbabwe)