The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
THE Government‘s farm downsizing and redistribution exercise has begun in earnest with land acquired under the programme benefiting youths, women and landless liberation war veterans, official has said.
In an interview, Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Jason Machaya said the new Government policy was to economically empower youths, women and landless war veterans by allocating them land under the new farm downsizing and redistribution exercise.
Government recently resumed the farm downsizing exercise which was suspended in 2015 for farms that either exceeded the recommended maximum farm sizes or some whose original farm owners had since passed on leaving the land to relatives who were failing to fully utilise it.
Minister Machaya said Government had resumed the farm downsizing exercise to enable youths and women to benefit from the land reform programme as well as ensuring maximum utilisation of land.
The province has over 12 000 people on the land waiting list. Minister Machaya said the farm downsizing exercise would herald the second phase of land redistribution with priority given to women, youths and liberation war veterans.
“As Government, we are going to allocate youths and women the land that we are acquiring under the new farm downsizing and redistribution exercise.
This is the second phase of the land redistribution exercise and this time we are reducing farms that exceeded recommended farm sizes depending on the farming region they are in,” he said.
Midlands Provincial Lands Officer, Ms Kudzayi Katiyo recently told Sunday News that farms in the Midlands Province serving for dairy farms were being reduced to 500ha.
“We are now on the second phase of the land allocation exercise. Under the second phase we will be downsizing farms that are exceeding recommended maximum farm sizes. In the Midlands province the standard farm size is 500ha. This exercise started in 2015 and was immediately suspended. In 2016 we started compiling the reports of why we had decided to reduce the sizes of some of the farms. Reports were completed and the downsizing exercise has resumed. This will be followed by land allocation. We are going to prioritise youths, women and liberation war veterans,” she said.
In 2015 Midlands Provincial Lands Committee had recommended downsizing of over 50 farms for resettlement from owners who have over the years failed to maximise on crop or livestock production.
The farms, according to recommendations from the provincial lands committee, would be downsized into viable plots for allocation to other potential land owners.
This was after Lands and Rural Development Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora announced that Government was going to repossess part of the farms whose sizes exceeds the recommended maximum farm sizes.
He said the recommended maximum farm sizes vary with varying regions.
“We want to make it a policy that we are no longer going to offer or issue out offer letters to farm or plot holders whose land is above the recommended size approved by Government corresponding with regions. For those with offer letters but their land is above the recommended maximum farm size, we are going to visit them and downsize to the stipulated size or even less depending on the utilisation of land and activities taking place at the farm,” said Dr Mombeshora then.
Midlands Province was still grappling with over 15 000 illegal settlers in the province some of whom were resettled by politicians and traditional chiefs.
