ABSENTEE land owners especially those who are now domiciled in the diaspora will lose the land which they were allocated under the Land Reform Programme while a digitalised system will help weed out multiple land owners.
Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora told delegates attending the Sunday News Agribusiness seminar held on Thursday in Bulawayo that the Government will also reduce the sizes of some farms to cater for the growing number of people who need land.
Some farms in parts of Matabeleland, he said, were as big as 2 000 hectares, and these will be targeted for the exercise.
“We will reduce the farms to between 500 and 1 000 hectares. Those who are also under-utilising their farms will have them downsized. If you have a 500-hectare farm and you are only using 100 we will give you the 100 and an additional 50 hectares and then we take the other part to resettle other people,” he said.
On absentee land owners, Dr Mombeshora said the Government will repossess the farms to ensure maximum production.
“We have derelict farms some owned by people who are now outside the country and we will also take those farms and re-allocate to other people.”
He added that a digitalisation programme underway will enable the Government to identify those who have multiple farms and to also help in pegging the farms.
“Once we punch your ID number in our system it must show us if you have been allocated another farm. This way we can identify those with multiple farms. We are also going to use the GPS system in pegging the land. So far, most farm divisions are on paper but we have not put the pegs. We are in the process but we will also use satellite technology so that even if someone moves the pegs, our technology will still be able to identify the original locations of the pegs and help determine correct farm sizes.”
The Government, said Dr Mombeshora, and the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe have amended some of the teething issues on the 99-year leases which had resulted in some banks failing to accept the documents as collateral.
“I am pleased to say that four weeks ago, we finalised the amendment of the 99-year lease which banks can accept as collateral. We are now in the process of printing the new leases. In the past farmers would get their leases after three years of being allocated land and this was a problem in terms of securing funding. Now you get your tenure document after the allocation of the land and immediately approach the bank to borrow money for production.”
He said the Government has recognised that some farmers do not get monthly incomes so has come up with an invoicing system to allow farmers to pay land rentals at a time when they have the money within the year.
A1 farmers pay $15 per year while A2 farmers pay $5/hectare per year for their pieces of land. He said the rentals were essential to allow the ministry to do annual inspections.
“We have agreed with Treasury that we retain 60 percent of the rentals while 40 percent will go to Treasury. That is the money that helps us to do title survey.”
Dr Mombeshora said farms allocated under the Land Reform Programme belong to the State and can never be sub-divided among family members but can still be subjected to the laws of inheritance.
“We do not allow families to sub-divide the farms they were allocated. It belongs to the State. However, during the period of the lease, the laws of inheritance still apply. A son or anyone nominated can inherit the farm.”
He encouraged farmers to fully utilise the available water to maximise on production.
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