Farmers abandon land after eviction announcement

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Ordered to immediately stop working their land or face prison, white Zimbabwean farmers on Tuesday began dismantling the equipment and infrastructure on some of their farms.

As part of its "fast track" land reform plan, the government on Monday ordered 1,000 white commercial farmers who had received notification their land was to be seized to stop cultivating their land and prepare to vacate their homes.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said a further 3,500 white farmers who had received preliminary warnings their land would be seized would soon receive seizure notices.

Rather than face a possible two-year jail term, some farmers began preparing Tuesday to leave their farms.

"We are removing our equipment, taking out the center irrigation pivots, taking everything off each farm," said Clive Nicolle, a farmer in the Chinhoyi area, 100 miles northeast of Harare.

The government has targeted a total of 5,000 white-owned commercial farms, about 95 percent of all farms owned by whites, for seizure and redistribution to landless blacks.

Thousands of ruling party militants are occupying 1,700 white farms, often disrupting planting and harvesting and forcing productive fields to lie fallow, white farmers say.