Enhance traditional land tenure, Govt urged

PASS a law to protect land tenure for subjects in chiefdoms to stop traditional leaders from abusing their powers over the administration of land, says Movement of Economic Democracy (MED) patron, Boyd Moobwe.

Mr Moobwe said MED is concerned with the high number of land wrangles and displacement in chiefdoms as a result of some traditional leaders selling land to foreigners and real estate companies.

He said displacement of small-scale farmers from their land if not stopped by way of legislation will affect food production, considering that they are the majority producers of maize, the country’s staple food.

Mr Moobwe warned in an interview that failure to protect land tenure has potential to negatively affect the agriculture sector because most of the traditional arable land, especially around big cities and towns is being grabbed and sold off to highest bidders.

He said small-scale farmers in chiefdoms are the major producers of food for the country, and therefore their cultivation of land should be protected from abuse.

Meanwhile, Mr Moobwe has called on local commercial banks and micro- financial institutions to take keen

15 interest in supporting upcoming businesses, especially in the agriculture sector.

He noted with disappointment, the trend where local lending institutions are turning down applications for capital from new business projects.

“In most cases business projects are being funded by other banks from different countries after which the local banks visit these projects to propose possibilities to boost the business,” he said.