Chinese farmers have taken over farms formerly owned by whites in Zimbabwe for the first time, investing millions of rands into tobacco production. Farms that were badly managed for nearly 20 years, after President Robert Mugabe's mass seizure of white-owned land, are now being worked again in the hope of reaping a potentially huge reward.At least five farms have attracted Chinese investment in Mashonaland Central, northwest of Harare, which was one of the country's best tobacco-producing areas.Safe in the knowledge that Mugabe's policy of strengthening ties with China will offer a degree of protection, they have poured money into machinery and are taking advice from international experts.China has become the largest investor in Zimbabwe, the economy of which, still reeling from the land seizures of 2000 and hyperinflation, has taken a nosedive once again. Unemployment is running at about 90% and the regime is so short of money that it cannot pay teachers or civil servants.The dire economic conditions have prompted rare protests against Mugabe's regime by a coalition of opposition parties.Although Zimbabwe's land reform process has empowered around 60,000 small-scale black tobacco farmers, who grow lower grades of tobacco, many of the bigger farms distributed among Mugabe's cronies have not fared well. They lie fallow amid broken fences, fields scorched by fires and scarce livestock.One farm worker in Mvurwi, about 90km north of Harare, said there were now plenty of jobs in the district after years of difficulties following the departure of the white landowners.Experts believe the five farms will, despite their limited experience, grow and cure about 607ha of tobacco this year. ..