Agriculture Agriculture in Zimbabwe can be divided into two parts: commercial farming of crops such as cotton, tobacco, coffee, peanuts and various fruits, and subsistence farming with staple crops, such as maize or wheat. Commercial farming was almost exclusively in the hands of the white minority until the controversial land redistribution program began in 2000. Land in Zimbabwe was forcibly seized from white farmers and redistributed to black settlers, justified by Mugabe on the grounds that it was meant to rectify inequalities left over from colonialism. The new owners did not have land titles, and as such did not have the collateral necessary to access bank loans. The small-scale farmers also did not have experience with commercial-scale agriculture. After land redistribution, much of Zimbabwe's land went fallow, and agricultural production decreased steeply. The University of Zimbabwe estimated in 2008 that between 2000 and 2007 agricultural production decreased by 51%. Production of tobacco, Zimbabwe's main export crop, decreased by 79% from 2000 to 2008. Tobacco production recovered after 2008 thanks to the contract system of agriculture and growing Chinese demand. International tobacco companies, such as British American Tobacco and China Tobacco, supplied farmers with agricultural inputs, equipment, and loans, and supervised them in growing tobacco. By 2018, tobacco production had recovered to 258 million kg, the second largest crop on record. Instead of large white-owned farms selling mostly to European and American companies, Zimbabwe's tobacco sector now consists of small black-owned farms exporting over half of the crop to China. Tobacco farming accounted for 11% of Zimbabwe's GDP in 2017, and 3 million of its 16 million people depended on tobacco for their livelihood. Land reform has found considerable support in Africa and a few supporters among African-American activists, but Jesse Jackson commented during a visit to South Africa in June 2006, "Land redistribution has long been a noble goal to achieve but it has to be done in a way that minimises trauma. The process has to attract investors rather than scare them away. What is required in Zimbabwe is democratic rule, democracy is lacking in the country and that is the major cause of this economic meltdown." Zimbabwe produced, in 2018: 3,3 million tons of sugarcane; 730 thousand tons of maize; 256 thousand tons of cassava; 191 thousand tons of vegetable; 132 thousand tons of tobacco (6th largest producer in the world); 106 thousand tons of banana; 96 thousand