The Sunday News
Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporter
THE Special Purpose Vehicle for Accelerating the allocation of land to Zimbabweans including those in the Diaspora is set to benefit 270 000 people on the waiting list, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Last month Cabinet endorsed the Special Purpose Vehicle which is especially directed towards empowerment, unlocking investment and land value. Addressing a post-Cabinet briefing recently, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa revealed that the vehicle will see Zimbabweans, including those in the diaspora and locally being able to invest and be given shares.
Speaking in Bulawayo recently, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka said the vehicle will see more than 270 000 land seekers on the waiting list being accommodated to ensure they partake in agriculture business and production. He said of the 270 000 on the waiting list, 10 000 were diasporans.
Dr Masuka said after realising the demand for land President Mnangagwa had directed that the Special Purpose Vehicle be formed to accommodate them. The Government has already set the ball rolling through the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) which last November launched the Vision Incubator and Accelerator Model (VIAM) marking the beginning of this agricultural investment special purpose vehicle.
Minister Anxious Masuka
“In a major policy announcement, the President recently directed that a Special Purpose Vehicle be formed to accommodate all the 270 000 people on the land allocation waiting list, some 10 000 diasporas, and more, through a land-owning and agricultural development vehicle, whose finer details are being finalised. People will not need to physically own a piece of land in order to participate in the business of agriculture,” said Dr Masuka.
With the Government unable to accommodate every applicant through the traditional and conventional manner that has been done in the past, the formulation of the Arda VIAM will see land seekers investing and being given shares on land.
“The investment vehicle is also set to provide an opportunity to unlock the potential of land, create value addition and beneficiation as well as accelerate rural industrialisation and development,” said Dr Masuka.
Meanwhile, the Government is forging ahead with the special security of tenure which seeks to transform agriculture from production to productivity.
“In an effort to improve the security of tenure, the President directed that securitised A2 permits be issued, instead of offer letters. Importantly, the President directed a policy shift that farmers no longer have to apply for 99-year leases, instead the ‘Annual Production and Productivity Returns’ now form the basis for assessment and issuance of 99-year leases,” said Dr Masuka.
Although the maximum farm size has been observed to be a good concept by various stakeholders, the Government has redefined the system to ensure that location-specific assessments are made based on the new concept of the minimum economically viable unit, which is an indicator of farm potential and a determinant of a commercial approach to land redistribution for increased production and productivity.
The Government has indicated that it has distributed over 14 million hectares of land to over 380 000 families since the beginning of the land reform programme in 2000. — Follow on Twitter: @nyeve14
