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February 05, 2008

Zimbabwe to repossess unproductive farms

Zimbabwe's government has repossessed at least 1 449 A2 farms countrywide where no production was taking place as part of renewed efforts to ensure that all land is productively used.

Minister of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Didymus Mutasa said, "Government is repossessing all vacant and unutilised farms. We will them to new deserving applicants." He said the farms were being repossessed following a national land audit carried out last year, which showed that some farms were vacant while others were not being utilised and some had not been taken up at all.

Mutasa said government would consider submissions by the farmers before repossessing them. He said government would also continue assisting farmers with inputs and implements to enhance agricultural production.

He dismissed claims that government was reversing the land reform programme. "There is no going back on our policy on land. Let me warn those landowners refusing to move from the designated farms that government will take the necessary procedures to have them evicted in terms of the law," Cde Mutasa said.

"We have so far repossessed 50 farms that were allocated under the A2 scheme following land audits that we carried out and most of the farms whose offer letters we withdrew were being under-utilised or had not been taken up at all. We made recommendations with the provincial technical land committees leading to the repossession of the farms and we are in the process of working out how best the repossessed land can be used," he said.

Among the proposals being considered was amalgamation of several plots into bigger single units, which could become viable for future recipients to operate. This followed revelations that some of the under-utilised plots or those that had not been taken up were too small to operate viably.

It has also emerged that sugarcane farmers who were allocated plots were contemplating quitting producing the crop on the basis that the plots were too small to grow the crop viably.

The Herald

 

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