Zimbabwe's land reform 1890-1980: Black peasants were moved to less fertile areas during the colonial era 2000: 4,000 whites own 60% of prime land March 2000: 'War veterans' occupy white-owned farms 2000-2002: Several white farmers and black workers killed during violence 9 August 2002: 3,000 white farmers ordered to leave their homes September 2002: 2,500 farmers defy evictions Guide to Zimbabwe's land question

White farmer Neville Coetzee agreed to give up 6,000 ha of his 9,000 ha farm to new black settlers.

Although he said it was hard to give up so much of the farm he had built, he is sure he did the right thing.

"In this area, we're very fortunate. We've had dialogue which took place right at the beginning of the land issue," he said. "I can still be very viable with what I've got left.

"I'm very happy to stay in the country because I've still got a good life," he said.

Mr Coetzee's new neighbour, Tichafa Chitate, is also pleased with the way things have gone.

After a year on his new plot of land, his wheat crop is just as high as Mr Coetzee's.

"There is a lot of money in farming... I'm expecting a profit of over a million [Zimbabwe dollars - US$18,000]."

"Somebody who says we cannot do as good as the white farmers does not know what he is talking about. Come on the ground and have a look," he said.

Way forward

"I worked as a customs officer for 21 years but I grew up farming," he said, adding that his father had always encouraged him to get some land and take up farming.

We have to relinquish land... so everyone can farm together

Neville Coetzee White farmer

Although Mr Chitate is luckier than most black farmers in that he had some money to invest in his new land, he still needs more equipment.

He said banks had refused to give him a loan but at least the government had given them irrigation equipment.

"I have a tractor but I don't have a plough, a cultivator or a planter," he said.

He got round this by hiring equipment from Mr Coetzee to harvest his crop - at Z$30 700 per hectare.

"We are happy and he is happy," he said.

"This is the way forward. We have to relinquish land... so everyone can farm together," Mr Coetzee said.

"I would like people elsewhere in the country to see how we're handling the situation here."

Whites who have fought land reform have fared less well

However the overall picture remains gloomy for Zimbabwe's white farmers.

An official from the Commercial Farmers' Union, Jerry Grant, said that of about 4,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe three years ago, only 600 were left, "the rest have been driven out," reports the Associated Press news agency.

A statement released on behalf of several hundred white farmers in the corn and tobacco regions north of Harare said that after months of intimidation and harassment, they have stopped work.

"We have tried to continue production for the last 30 months under near-impossible conditions - we now give notice we cannot continue any longer," the statement read.