Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera
THE Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) will facilitate access to land for 260 000 land seekers and mobilise agriculture investments from over 10 000 diasporans under the parastatal’s Vision Incubator and Accelerator Model (VIAM), a key policy document says.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has 270 000 people in its database seeking land for agricultural production.
According to the Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2(AFSRTS 2) (2026-30), ARDA’s VIAM Vision Agriculture is a crowd-funding model targeting over 260 000 land seekers on the waiting list.
It also seeks to facilitate investments from over 10 000 people living in the diaspora, who have expressed interest in having land for agricultural purposes.
“The proposed ARDA VIAM is a vehicle for empowerment and investment, unlocking the potential of land without the burden of owning and running discrete and uneconomically viable units of land,” reads AFSRTS 2.
ARDA will make use of land under its estates to onboard the prospective farmers.
The ARDA VIAM financial framework targets the production of 735 000 tonnes of maize, wheat and traditional grains with a gross value of US$297 360 000 annually.
A gross margin profit of US$224 060 760 will be realised from this production, with an operating profit of US$188 823 million annually.
ARDA director of commercial services Mr Dominic Sadziwa said ARDA VIAM was an investment fund model, which involved the creation of an investment asset.
“The investment assets allow for the pooling of funds from diverse investors with different risk appetites, but with no specific preference on the underlying projects,” he said.
“The fund will allow for pooling of deposits into the fund by over 260 000 local land seekers who have expressed interest in land and over 10 000 Zimbabweans in the diaspora and Zimbabwean exporters who have export proceeds.”
Mr Sadziwa said the land designated for the investment fund would be used as the underlying asset for the fund.
