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Blessings Chidakwa Herald Reporter

The Zimbabwe Lands Commission has completed its land audit exercise, coming up with a Land Information Management System (LIMS) which will tackle issues which include multiple farm ownerships and double allocations with President Mnangagwa receiving the final report yesterday.

LIMS saw the auditing of 254 538 farms countrywide looking at land allocation, distribution of beneficiaries by farm categories, where they come from, investment made by the beneficiaries, production, land management, environmental management and provision of social services.

Among other things in the scope were issues of extension services and where farmers acquire information in farming, methods and business models they use, leasing, joint ventures, tenure security and enjoyment of basket of rights.

This audit is a vital exercise for policy formulation which helps to identify land utilisation patterns and optimal farming activities required for increased agricultural productivity, poverty alleviation and sustainable use of agricultural land.

Presenting the report at State House yesterday, ZLC chairperson, Commissioner Tendai Bare said LIMS was a database created from auditing agricultural land vested in the State which excludes communal lands and this was a Constitutional mandate.  “It was quite a bit of double allocations and we are dealing with it through the dispute resolution, but I think with this database we will minimise double allocations because before a piece of land is allocated, its status will be established. So really, this land audit will assist the ministry to do a lot of cleaning up where it is necessary,” she said.

The LIMS, said Commissioner Bare, would also tackle issues of multiple farm ownerships.

“They were quite a few multiple-owned farms but not many, a few and primarily people who left the communal areas to go into the resettlement areas then still retaining their small holdings in rural areas but you cannot call that a farm while in the rural areas,” she said.

Commissioner Bare said one of the interesting issues was the enjoyment of the basket of rights as articulated in the Constitution by the farmers.

“Despite the fact that some farmers may not yet have permits they still have offer letters and the rights they are enjoying is the right to transfer, occupy, use, exclusivity and ownership,” she said.

“The rights that they do not enjoy according to the Constitution is disposal and acquisition as agricultural land is vested in the State and it can decide what type of tenure document to give you.”

She said this was interesting since a lot of people were afraid of being chased away anytime, but the farmers were now truly entrenched. All they wanted was the capacitation with the AFC Bank.

Commissioner Bare said the farmers wanted to secure loans and become fully productive and contribute to economic development, food security, poverty eradication and development of rural enterprise.

She said the audit allowed the Ministry of Agriculture and other agencies operating under it to form skills and programmes based on the information in the database.

“Approximately 20,8 percent constitute women both married and women in their own right, 5,6 percent youths, ordinary farmers coming from the communal areas constitute 60,8 percent,” she said.

“What is now important is to ensure that the women and the youths and other marginalised groups enjoy the basket of rights as articulated in the Constitution and that the Government protects these rights and withdraws them if the beneficiary violates the provision.”

Commissioner Bare said they only presented an abridged version; micro statistics which they thought could be of interest to the President for the purposes of evidence-based policy formulation and strategic intervention to ensure productivity on a sustainable basis.

She said the purpose of the document was also to ensure social equity, economic growth and poverty eradication while it would be up to the President to make the document public.

“We audited the farms over a period of five years. First two years established the instrument and did dry runs testing the instrument in all the provinces and all districts where agricultural land is vested.

“We concluded the audit in August this year and the total that we have audited is 254 538 farms that we have recorded. The instrument that we used has got 42 questions and sub questions so the database is very voluminous,” said the Commissioner.

Commissioner Bare also explained the scope of the land audit.

“The audit includes people with title deeds because they are on agricultural land so they have also been audited including those with offer letters, permits, title deeds, small scale farms all the resettlement areas, intensive commercial farming areas have all been audited.

“It took us a period of five years, which is what we are allowed under the Lands Commission Act and it allowed Treasury to mobilise the necessary funding to undertake this project. Its funding was $25 billion,” she said.

The Public Service Commission deployed staff which was trained and supervised.