The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has announced that all people to be allocated state land for farming will now undergo a vetting process to assess their capabilities.
This decision follows reports that some previous beneficiaries of the country’s land reform programme have been underutilising or even abandoning the farms they were allocated.
Reports indicate that some beneficiaries of the land reform programme have been illegally leasing out the farms they were allocated, even though they do not hold formal titles or ownership rights to the land.
According to The Herald, there are currently 270,000 Zimbabweans living within the country, as well as 10,000 in the diaspora, who are on the waiting list to be allocated land.
Obert Jiri, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, said the vetting process is necessary as some past land reform beneficiaries are unproductive.
The objective of this vetting and verification exercise, Jiri explained, is to ensure that deserving and capable individuals are allocated land.
Those on the waiting list will be considered for abandoned or underutilized farms, and the ministry is also encouraging the establishment of joint farming ventures. Said Jiri:
These joint venture facilities are practical solutions that we are exploring to enhance partnerships in farming businesses that guarantee productivity.
Not everyone will get land because there is a huge number that is on the waiting list. Those who still want land can still register and join the waiting list because it is their right to do so.
So far, no land is available, so we urge land seekers to engage in joint ventures and partnerships to allow more people to venture into agriculture.
Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) was launched in the year 2000 with its primary aim to address the racially skewed distribution of land that had persisted since the country’s independence in 1980.
The programme sought to acquire at least 5 million hectares of land for redistribution to benefit poor and middle-income black Zimbabweans who had previously been landless.
This was seen as a critical step in correcting the imbalances of the colonial era land ownership patterns.
However, the implementation of the FTLRP faced significant challenges. The process was marred by incidents of violence and a weakening of the country’s overall agricultural infrastructure and productivity.
Despite its ambitious goals, the FTLRP did not ultimately deliver the intended outcomes. Instead, the poorly managed and chaotic land reform process contributed to Zimbabwe’s deteriorating social and economic conditions in the years that followed.
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