Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
STAKEHOLDERS in the agriculture industry have described the splitting of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Ministry into two as strategic and crucial for accelerating progress towards achieving a US$15,8 billion agriculture industry by 2030.
President Mnangagwa recently divided the Ministry into the Ministry of Lands and Rural Development as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, with the former under Minister Vangelis Haritatos, and Dr Anxious Masuka heading the latter.
Zimbabwe National Farmers union (ZNFU) president, Mrs Monica Chinamasa, said this was long overdue as the country’s agro-based economy wanted detailed focus on pertinent issues affecting the sector timeously.
“The good move was overdue, as land issues needed to be tackled separately to enhance production.
“Due to the seasonality of production, agriculture issues also need to be dealt with in a separate Ministry,” she said.
Mrs Chinamasa said issues such as title deeds application, offer letter withdrawal and any other land boundary disputes required a centralised Ministry.
Knowledge Transfer Africa chief executive, Dr Charles Dhewa contributing on the Zimbabwe Agriculture Think Tank (ZATT) social grouping said the formation of a Lands and Rural Development Ministry was important as there was a serious overlap with the Ministry of Local Government and Chiefs in land administration.
ZATT secretary general, Mr Taruvinga Magwiroto concurred saying land title deed issues needed to be handled by a proper Government ministry.
“Between the new Ministry, the Surveyor General and Deeds Office, they can surely do the job.
“The Lands Commission has to start earning its keep and the title deeds implementation committee may need to be disbanded or assigned another role,” he said.
As the terms of reference and mandates for the ministries are not yet in the public domain, Mr Magwiroto said the Lands Ministry might need to consider the establishment of a working group on land use conflict and integration.
“There might be need to commission proper research on the development readiness of different rural areas to enable more rational policy interventions and utilise agricultural graduates to spearhead rural development.
“The strategic renewal of organisations and systems requires fresh injection of blood and ideas every now and again to guard against system obsolescence,” he added.
Another contributor on the ZATT platform who requested anonymity concurred that the Lands Ministry had a daunting task to deal with complicated issues like the US$3,5 billion global compensation deal and land audits.
“The unbundling of the structure of the big ministry was coming, given its central role in the Government’s liberation ethos. From land reform, the land audits, the US3.5 billion debt owed to former commercial farmers through to land rights/title deeds,” he said.
As of the Lands Ministry, he said the 2023 comprehensive national agricultural land audit, which audited over 254,000 farms and found significant issues such as multiple farm ownership, underutilisation of farm land, absentee farmers and a huge waiting list.
As stakeholders wait for an overview of the objectives of the new Ministries, the rural development aspect is what will complicate things for the parastatal Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), which is heavily involved in agriculture production as well as being the official vehicle for rural development.
In his foreword on the launch of the Agriculture, Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS 2), President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe’s transformation from a low-income to an inclusive, diverse, modern and prosperous upper middle-income economy was underpinned by agriculture, as the economy is agro-based.
“This AFSRTS 2 emphasises the resilience of the agricultural sector, based on the principles of climate-proofed agriculture, to ensure perennial food security, away from the episodic and weather-determined food security escapades of the past.
“This will assure the nation of food sovereignty. Concurrent with this effort, there will be improved nutrition for communities through a food systems approach to agricultural production.
“Resultantly, there will be better livelihoods for communities, and increased contribution of agriculture to economic development. These developments will be buttressed by a robust and secure land tenure and administration system,” he said.
The historic land reform programme is irreversible and is being entrenched to increase production and productivity through the issuance of bankable and transferable title deeds.
The Government has adopted a new land tenure regime, in line with Section 292 — read together with Sections 289, 293 and 294 — of the Constitution that obligates the State to give security of tenure to every person to alienate for value-added land, among other requirements.
This process is being coordinated by the Office of the President and Cabinet, with the Cabinet Oversight Committee and Land Tenure Implementation Committee (LTIC) put in place to supervise the programme.
