The despotic Mr Mugabe has presented the West with a devil's choice

As of midnight last night, almost 3,000 white farmers in Zimbabwe faced the starkest of choices: to cease farming forthwith and give up their land or to place themselves on the wrong side of the law, risking eviction by force and imprisonment. The deadline imposed by the government of Robert Mugabe requires them to stop farming now, if need be with crops still unharvested, and to vacate the land within 45 days.

The government's order is not without a certain rationale. The practical purpose is to accelerate the redistribution of farmland to landless blacks and give new impetus to the flagging programme of land reform. The political purpose is to fulfil long-standing election promises and stem the rising tide of black discontent.

In terms of feeding the country, however, this despotic government could hardly have chosen a worse time to enact its order. At least two regions of Zimbabwe are already suffering severe food shortages. As much as half the population is likely to need food assistance of some kind before the end of the year. The reason is only partly the drought that threatens the whole region; botched land reform, farm-occupations and assaults on white farmers have compounded the hardship. Which is why the government's decision to lay down the law to white farmers at this juncture defies belief.

The order would deprive around 60 per cent of white commercial farmers of their land. It is estimated that another 30 per cent have already abandoned their farms, which would leave only around 5 per cent of the country's 4,000 white farmers still in business in six weeks' time. Already breaking under the strain, the most efficient and productive sector of Zimbabwe's agriculture would be effectively destroyed.

The first signs were that most were choosing to carry on in the hope, perhaps, that the incompetence of the Mugabe government, so evident in other areas, would manifest itself in its inability to enforce last night's deadline. But while the farmers deserve the highest praise for their courage, the risks they face are enormous.

However it is not only Zimbabwe's remaining farmers who confront an unenviable dilemma as a result of the Mugabe government's order. Western governments – above all the British Government – face a devil's choice of their own. If food shortages in Zimbabwe develop into famine, should they provide aid or not? If they supply aid, they could be accused of shoring up a debilitated and corrupt regime and compensating for its failings. If they refuse to do so, they could be complicit in mass starvation.

For Britain, the dilemma has an additional, and distasteful, element of blackmail. President Mugabe holds Britain to blame for the whole food crisis, claiming that it renegued on a promise to help underwrite land reform. The British Government says its offer was contingent on the orderly redistribution of land.

There can be no question of Western governments standing by as Zimbabwe starves. They must do their utmost to feed the hungry, but government-to-government assistance should be avoided, as should financial donations. Aid should be channelled through voluntary organisations and managed in such a way as to bypass the Zimbabwe government and the corrupt local officials the regime has spawned. This would convey a double message to the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe: that the Mugabe government is powerless to help them, and that foreign countries are not the enemies they have been painted to be.