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The Herald, August 22, 1990
ZIMBABWE has a two-stage resettlement programme, the second part of which will cater mostly for people with the farming experience and tools needed to use the land properly, the Acting Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Cde David Karimanzira, said yesterday.
Responding to questions raised in Parliament on resettlement during debate on the Presidential speech, Cde Karimanzira said the first stage of the programme was to resettle the landless, destitute and refugees.
“This is precisely what this Government has done and to date over 52 000 families have benefited from this resettlement programme. These families have been resettled on well over 3,3 million hectares of former commercial land which has been acquired for the purpose.”
However, not all such land was productively used, because some settlers did not have the requisite experience and tools to till the land. Others did not have the livestock to take advantage of grazing areas allocated to them.
“It is the view of Government that the next phase of resettlement should cater mostly for people who have the necessary farming experience and tools to utilise the land properly,” he said.
The selection of settlers for this phase would involve local administration, farmers’ organisations and Agritex “so that the most capable farmers are selected for resettlement”.
The acting minister said a number of communal and small-scale commercial farmers were deeply in debt and farmers in Bota owing the Agricultural Finance Corporation $1,2 million and those in Mutoko $12,8 million.
The AFC had attached assets of defaulting farmers, because of failure to repay loans. Cde Karimanzira said there had been strong suggestions that the 100 percent debt recovery method of the AFC had induced some farmers into side-marketing “as there is always need for something to show for the farmers’ efforts for a whole year of labour”.
The farmers had also been disadvantaged by the drought. In addition to a number of efforts to assist defaulting farmers, the AFC had submitted to Cabinet proposals for special assistance to the communal, small-scale and emergent commercial farmers.
“The proposals will aim at lowering interest rates to small farmers as well as extend the periods of grace from the farmer purchasing land for the first time,” said Cde Karimanzira.
The attached properties were not being auctioned but were being kept by the AFC and would be released to owners when they started paying “satisfactorily”.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- Land is a great resource that ensures that the country gets enough food and produces crops that can be used as raw materials in industries and can also be exported and earn the country foreign currency. For this to happen, land has to be allocated to people who are productive and devoted to farming.
- For funding to the agricultural sector to be sustainable, those who access loans should ensure that they repay them on time to ensure continuity.
- Side marketing of crops has serious implications on farming as it dampens the appetite of financier to fund agricultural activities. The country’s cotton sector nearly collapsed due to side marketing as contractors were shying away from the sector citing non-return on investment.
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