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Elita Chikwati

Senior Agric Reporter

Teams of enumerators have been deployed to farming provinces by the Zimbabwe Land Commission (ZLC) for the final phase of the comprehensive agricultural land audit, which is expected to cover almost 300 000 farms.

The audit is meant to identify land utilisation patterns and optimal farming activities to influence appropriate policies for increased agricultural productivity, poverty alleviation and sustainable utilisation of agricultural land.

ZLC chairperson, Commissioner Tendai Bare, revealed this recently while addressing young farmers attending the Federation of Young Farmers Clubs Zimbabwe at the Exhibition Park in Harare.

“We are deploying teams tomorrow (last Friday) for the last phase of the land audit which is expected to cover plus or minus 300 000 farms.

“The Commission will also hear complaints and concerns from farmers on the administration of land. The results of the land audit will be used to make recommendations to Government to promote good governance,” she said.

Comm Bare said from the previous land audits, the major issues that arose were boundary disputes as some farmers would have encroached onto other farmers’ land.

“We have resolved more than 3 000 disputes on boundaries,” she said.

Zimbabweans are keen on the land audit as it is likely to unearth underutilised land, double and multiple allocations.

The audit is expected to identify the challenges and constraints being faced by the farmers in successfully addressing the agrarian reform agenda.

It will also identify land utilisation patterns and optimal farming activities which influence appropriate policies for increased agricultural production, poverty alleviation and sustainable use of agricultural land.

The information from the audit will also be used by Government to address challenges faced by farmers and to come up with possible solutions so that “farmers will boost production and be able to contribute to the economy and farmers becoming part of the 2030 vision of becoming an upper middle income                               economy”.