HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)  President Robert Mugabe, campaigning for upcoming elections, has signed a new law requiring foreign- and white-owned businesses to hand over 51% control of their operations to blacks, state media reported Sunday. Cranking up his campaign theme of "economic empowerment" in the impoverished African nation, Mugabe also unveiled plans to distribute tractors, generators, gasoline and cattle to black farmers who have resettled on white-owned land seized by the government since 2000. "This equipment and implements now form a critical mass that should be deployed effectively so as to meaningfully uplift productivity levels," the state-owned Sunday Mail reported Mugabe as saying at a Harare ceremony Saturday. The new program comes three weeks before Zimbabweans vote in crucial presidential, parliamentary and local council elections in which Mugabe, 84, is running against former finance minister and ruling party loyalist Simba Makoni, 57, and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 55. The March 29 vote takes place amid an economic meltdown — including a shrinking economy, rocketing inflation, shortages of most basic goods and collapsing public services — in the nation once known as Africa's bread basket. Since the government began ordering the seizure of white-owned farms in 2000, production of food and agricultural exports has slumped drastically. Zimbabwe has the world's highest official rate of inflation: 100,500%. One-third of the nation's 12 million people received emergency food aid in January, U.N. food agencies said. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization predicted shortfalls in local harvests in coming weeks and said just 10% of fertilizer needed in the last planting season is available to farmers. Since December, the Central Bank has spent at least $43 million to import corn, Zimbabwe's staple food, from neighboring countries, bank Gov. Gideon Gono said Saturday. The Sunday Mail said the government new program will put Zimbabwe "back at work" with state-of-the-art generators, buses, tractors, 300 buses, motorcycles and some 3,000 cattle. No details about the cost of the equipment — funded by the state central bank, much of it in scarce hard currency — was provided. In the past, similarly free equipment mainly has gone to supporters of the ruling party. Mugabe blames the crisis on economic sanctions imposed by Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial power, and its allies, to protest his land reforms. "This hate program by Britain and her fellow racists imposed unjustified sanctions on Zimbabwe in futile attempts to frighten us off our land," he said. "They should remember we are not that easily scared away," he said. The Economic Empowerment Act requires "indigenous Zimbabweans" to hold a minimum 51% stake in every business and public company, and to have a controlling stake in every investment or company merger. Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Conversation guidelines: USA TODAY welcomes your thoughts, stories and information related to this article. Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers across the map.