Zimbabwean farmers find new home in Nigeria

A Nigerian government official on Monday said Zimbabwean farmers have found a new home in the west African country to continue farming on the African continent.

"Our state alone has 15 Zimbabwean farmers who have relocated," deputy governor of Nigeria's Nasarawa state John Michael Abul told the South Africa-Nigeria Business Forum in Johannesburg.

Thousands of white Zimbabwean farmers have lost their land following President Robert Mugabe's haphazard land reform programme that started in 2002 and has led to the destruction of the country's once vibrant farming sector.

Often violent and chaotic, Mugabe's land seizure replaced productive white farmers with black farmers who are either incompetent or poorly funded and this has resulted in the former breadbasket of southern Africa facing acute food shortages.