Govt resumes farm downsizing exercise
FARM downsizing exercise in the Midlands Province is at an advanced stage, as Government intends to settle 12 000 people on the waiting list by beginning of next year.
Government resumed the farm downsizing exercise early this year, after it had been suspended in 2015.
The exercise is expected to be completed before the end of the year, after which people on the waiting list can be allocated pieces of land.
Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs Jason Machaya said downsizing of farms meant to create more land for the people had gathered momentum.
“Lands officials are on the ground working on the downsizing of big farms to enable others to have access to land,” he said. “The provincial waiting list stands at 12 000 and these people are eager to get pieces of land and once the downsizing programme is complete, they will be located the pieces of land.”
Minister Machaya said the downsizing exercise was prioritising pieces of land that exceed the recommended maximum size or where beneficiaries had died and no one was using the land.
Underutilised land would also be affected.
Minister Machaya said the farm downsizing exercise would be followed by the second phase of land redistribution, which will prioritise youths, women and liberation war veterans.
The first and successful land redistribution programme was led by war veterans in 2000 and saw thousands of previously landless Zimbabweans being allocated pieces of land.
Speaking during a Zanu-PF Midlands Provincial Coordinating Committee on Development recently, Midlands Provincial Lands Officer Ms Kudzayi Katiyo said Government resumed the farm downsizing exercise to enable more people to benefit from the land and ensure maximum utilisation of farms.
“We are now on the second phase of the land allocation exercise,” she said. “Under the second phase we will be downsizing farms that exceed recommended maximum farm sizes.
“In the Midlands Province, the standard farm size is 500ha. This exercise started in 2015, but was suspended. In 2016, we started compiling the reports of why we had decided to reduce the sizes of some of the farms.”
In 2015, the Midlands Provincial Lands Committee recommended downsizing of over 50 farms for resettlement from owners who have over the years failed to maximize on crop or livestock production.
The farms, according to recommendations from the provincial lands committee, will be downsized into viable plots for allocation to other potential land owners.