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The Herald
Elita Wedding
Agriculture reporter
Agricultural economists have welcomed the step taken by the Ministry of Land, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement to monitor production on farms and reallocate abandoned farms and underutilized lands to ensure that all farms are in production.
Under the new policy, farmers resettled under schemes A1 and A2, the beneficiaries of the agrarian reform, must submit mandatory production returns to the Ministry of Lands before January 31 next year, of which reallocation will not be considered. from farms to people on the waiting list.
The measure is aimed at transforming A2 farmers into agri-entrepreneurs and their farms to become enviable businesses by 2025, while A1 farmers will transform through government production schemes to become viable small and medium enterprises and formal by 2025.
The information collected by Land officials will help the ministry to support provincial land committees in implementing the new policy on lands where multiple land ownership, abandoned farms, abandoned farms, and under-utilized farms can be considered for reallocation. Farmers who do not submit information will be considered included in these categories.
Productive farms that exceed the maximum farm size for their agroecological region will be exempt from downsizing until guidance is provided.
Agricultural economist Dr. Midway Bhunu said the proposed monitoring and evaluation system was welcome and was one of the critical steps towards commercializing agriculture. “This will solve the long-standing challenge of underutilization of productive land that has negatively impacted the country’s food, income and nutrition security,” he said.
Dr Bhunu said that commercialized agriculture was widely seen as the most effective means of tackling poverty in the developing world. “It is important that the land gets into the right hands and is put to good use so that we can feed our nation and regain our barn status.
“This is the time to attract private sector investment to our agricultural systems for various value chains. We recommend a well-coordinated approach on the implementation of this noble idea where all actors, development partners and the private sector included join hands with the Government and develop our agriculture.
“We have great potential to revive many value chains that had collapsed, examples are coffee and flowers, just to choose a few,” he said.
Agricultural economist at the Zimbabwe Farmers Union, Dr. Prince Kuipa, said the move will help the government in policy formulation and planning. “The Land Ministry will be able to learn about the under-utilization of land, the types of crops that are grown and also the challenges faced by farmers. The Ministry must also consider the challenges faced by farmers that affect production. Financing has been the main challenge affecting production on farms and must be addressed so that all farmers can put the land to use.
“99-year bankable leases should be prioritized so that farmers can access funds to boost production,” he said.
The Executive Director of the Apex Agriculture Youth Council, Ms Memory Nyakwima Chakwita, said the organization was ready to “meet the young farmers who benefit from this exercise through the provision of inputs and technical expertise.”
Zimbabwe National Farmers Union Vice President Edward Dune encouraged relevant authorities and organizations to educate farmers about the transition process. “It is also necessary to justify production trends. There could be other reasons why farmers are not producing, ”he said.
The Minister of Lands, Dr. Anxious Masuka, said that in pursuit of Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1, and through the Strategy for the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems, his Ministry seeks to transform the agricultural sector by making agriculture a business.
The government is determined to increase productivity on farms to create a highly productive chain of business-oriented farmers and turn agriculture into an $ 8 billion sector by 2023.
