Government should avail land to agricultural graduates

Isaac Waniwa, [email protected]

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka recently made a very interesting observation. He said Government’s transformative land reform programme ushered in 23  000 A2 and 360 000 A1 farmers but more than 90 percent of these farm beneficiaries are non-agriculturalists.

Addressing graduates who are the first group of students to be trained under the Agricultural Education for Development 5.0 curriculum at Esigodini Agricultural College in Matabeleland South province a few weeks ago, Minister Masuka said it is therefore crucial for land beneficiairies to benefit from agricultural graduates’ skills. 

Minister Masuka’s observation that more than 90 percent of the land reform beneficiaries lack the requisite skills because they are non-agriculturalists, presents a very strong argument for Government to come up with a deliberate policy to ensure the graduates’ skills are fully utilised. 

One option is for Government to directly allocate land to graduates or come up with a programme or policy that facilitates partnerships between graduates and individuals already allocated land. Beneficiaries of the land reform programme could also engage these graduates as farm managers so that they benefit from their skills. 

Government is investing a lot of resources in training agricultural graduates hence many colleges and universities are churning out thousands of these graduates every year. Zimbabwe has 11 universities, 13 colleges and 11 training centres, all offering agricultural training and as such there are many graduates being produced each year. 

It is therefore imperative to ensure these graduates’ skills are put to good use for the benefit of the nation. Land is a finite resource and as such, the country cannot afford to underutilise it. I totally agree with Minister Masuka that agricultural training institutions should be the foundation upon which land beneficiaries get the much-needed skills for their “newly-found” occupation, which is farming. 

Minister Masuka said agricultural colleges have been transformed from the old system of producing “trainers and extensionists” to produce farmer-centric and business-oriented advisory service graduates. These farmer-centric and business-oriented advisory service graduates can only benefit the country when they have access to land hence the call for Government to come up with a policy that assist them to access land. 

The land reform programme has seen more than 300 000 families being allocated land mainly in areas that used to be for white commercial farmers only. 

It is a fact that many of the land beneficiaries are working very hard to boost production but more could be achieved if they work with graduates from our agricultural colleges and universities. 

Government, as already alluded, can allocate land directly to graduates who can then work the land as syndicates. It can also come up with incentives to encourage land beneficiaries to engage the graduates as farm managers. This, in my view, could go a long way in boosting production at the farms and help Zimbabwe regain its status as the region’s breadbasket. 

It is a fact that some of the land beneficiaries have more than what they need which means there is room to allocate land to those that have the required skills to work the land and at the end of the day the country benefits. A few graduates that have managed to access land have proved that they have the potential to transform the country’s agricultural sector and all they need is just the land.

In some cases, graduates are working on the small pieces of land allocated to their parents hence this loud call for them to be allocated land. 

Government has said farming is a business and it must therefore facilitate that the business-oriented advisory service graduates being churned out by colleges and universities lead the way. 

There is a need to push harder for agricultural graduates to access land especially now when Government is working on a more secure document of tenure that will make the land bankable, registrable and transferable. This means the graduates allocated land will be able to obtain loans from banks to fund their farming operations as opposed to waiting for inputs from Government.

Government could also take this opportunity to ensure those that have more land than they need surrender the excess land so it could be allocated to other landless citizens. 

The skills gap in the agricultural sector has partly been addressed by Government’s decision to adopt the Agricultural Education for Development 5.0 curriculum and the next move is to ensure the sector benefits as graduates allocated land work on it. 

In the next five to 10 years more than 90 percent of those allocated land should have been turned into agriculturalists by working with agricultural graduates. The agricultural sector is the foundation for the country’s industrialisation and modernisation as it is the primary source of raw materials. 

It is therefore crucial to ensure skills and resources in this sector are fully utilised to boost production. Big world economies like China started by developing their agricultural sector which then provided the foundation for industrialisation. 

Zimbabwe has embarked on rural industrialisation programme whose success is hinged on the growth of the agricultural sector. There is therefore very a strong and compelling case for Government to avail land to agricultural graduates.