Chronicle Editor
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE Government has expressed its commitment to tackling the rampant illegal sale and occupation of land, indicating however, that it is going to adopt the use it or lose it approach where beneficiaries are not productive.
Speaking at a Land Indaba hosted by Zimpapers on Thursday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development professor Obert Jiri said the Government will not hesitate to allocate perennially underutilised land that is big enough to be subdivided to landless citizens who can be productive.
He said while the fast-track land reform programme was successful, the Government was now working on regularising as well as ensuring that the land allocated was productive.
“Land allocations for agricultural use are largely done with the focus now on production, productivity, and profitability. Land is an economic enabler and a key means of production that needs to be managed properly. Land is allocated under two main models; Model A1 and Model A2.
“Model A1 is allocated to smallholder farmers, targeting households from previously congested communal areas and those in urban areas. Each household is allocated land for residential (0,5 hectares), cropping/ arable (6 hectares), and communal grazing (7 livestock units per household — the actual land size depends on agro-ecological zone),” said Prof Jiri.
He said Model A2 is the commercial variant with small, medium and large scale. Model A1 applicants have to register with the district lands office and should be Zimbabwean aged at least 21 years while Model A2 applicants fill in application forms and submit them to the provincial or district land office, with a project proposal and five-year cash flow projection.
The A2 applicants are vetted and placed on the waiting list. He said Government is alive to the needs of various demographic groups in the nation and has allocated specific quotas for them.
“Land allocation is done based on quotas where war veterans have 20 percent quota, youths have 20 percent quota, women and the disabled are also prioritised and indicated on the recommendation schedule, and 10 percent quota is reserved for special cases.
“Land application and allocation is done at no cost. We say no to corruption in land allocation and administration. Rural state land is not for sale. Land for allocation is currently from vacant land which is land that was allocated but the beneficiary did not take occupation, abandoned land where the beneficiary once occupied the land but later deserted it, and underutilised land where the beneficiary is perennially underutilising the land which is big enough to be subdivided into viable units. Land use planning is based on minimum viable units,” said Prof Jiri.
Turning to illegal settlements in resettlement areas, Prof Jiri said settlements are supposed to be planned according to land use.
“Grazing land, which is communally used (but with each household having a specific entitlement) is usually targeted for illegal settlements. Illegal settlements can be caused by village heads, land barons, Government officials, children of resettled farmers and desperate land seekers. Illegal settlements affect the viability of resettled farmers by reducing the land entitlement per household.
“All stakeholders must work together to fight against illegal settlements. The law must take its course for those promoting illegal settlements. Designated land uses should be respected and adhered to, that is all accommodation construction must be confined to the 0,5 hectares allocated for that purpose, and cropping as well must be restricted to the arable blocks. This will allow for grazing land to remain for the welfare of livestock. Livestock is key in agricultural production for smallholder farmers, especially in drought years like the current one,” said Prof Jiri.
Zimbabwe has a total land area of 39,6 million hectares, with 33,4 million hectares reserved for agriculture while the balance is for national parks, forests and urban settlements.
He said the Government implemented land reforms since independence with the first phase that went on between 1980 to 1997 benefiting 71 000 households, the inception phase of phase two from 1998 to June 2000 benefiting 4 697 households and the third phase which was the fast-track land reform that commenced in July 2000 onwards benefiting 162 000 households under A1 and 23 600 under A2.
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