Net closes in on unproductive farmers

Harare Bureau
MORE than 228 000 resettled farmers have tendered farm productivity reports from last year to Government in compliance with new regulations to ensure optimum use of farmland.

About 80 percent of A2 farmers who were resettled during the Land Reform Programme met the February 15 deadline to submit their production returns, while 60 percent of all A1 farmers beat the cut-off date.

Last year, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development invoked the Agricultural Marketing Authority Act, which compels farmers to submit mandatory production returns to Government annually.

Authorities are now set to deploy Agricultural Technical and Extension Services (Agritex) officers to undertake separate audits to authenticate farmers’ submissions.

Auditing of farm records is expected to expose multiple farm owners, including abandoned, rundown and underutilised farms that will be appropriated for redistribution to some of the 200 000 people on the waiting list.

Nearly 380 000 A1 and A2 farmers – all beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme – are affected by the exercise.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Dr John Basera said response to the call for submission of production records has been “incredible”.

“Of course the offtake was a little bit slow.

Obviously some farmers were a little bit sceptical on submitting their returns, but it is now a statutory requirement that they submit the returns every February.

So far, in terms of submissions of production and productivity returns, we are looking at over 60 percent now.

For A2 farmers, I am pretty sure that we are over 80 percent now.

But A1 farmers that’s where we need to disseminate more information on the importance of production and productivity returns.”

The reports, he said, would guide Government in formulating policy conducive to increased agricultural production.

Crucially, information gathered is expected to assist the ministry, through Provincial Land Committees (PLCs), to carry out the new policy on land focusing on redistribution of abandoned, derelict and underutilised farms as well as address multiple land ownership.

Previously, Government said farmers who fail to submit their returns will be deemed to be in the above categories and their farms may be offered to PLCs for reallocation to those on the waiting list.

Farmers who submit false information also risk having their offer letters withdrawn.

“We need those reports so that we are able to make policy and to inform policy in terms of what challenges our farmers are facing.

Production and productivity returns inform Government in terms of the amount of land being utilised; the amount of resources being utilised, because these are key ingredients to agricultural transformation.

However, the reports submitted so far indicate significant growth in production,” he said.