Land reform empowers locals

THE land reform exercise, which Government undertook after Independence corrected colonial imbalances in the ownership of the means of production by giving back land to locals who were pushed out from their fertile land by white settlers.

Before Independence, white power was consolidated through unequal tenure and allocation of land.

The Land Apportionment Act of 1930 divided Rhodesian territory into four sections: The Native Purchase or African Areas, the European Areas, the Forest Areas, and Unassigned Land which was to be allocated at a later time.

The African Areas included the Tribal Trust Lands which were reserved for the sole use and occupation by blacks. The land distribution broadly followed the division of land which had been made in the 1890s.

The mineral resources and major transport networks, including all the railways and tarred roads, were carefully confined to the European Areas as was a large part of the fertile land with good rainfall.

The introduction of discriminatory policies resulted in the enforced racial segregation of all the peoples of Rhodesia by law.

Those areas with geographical and economic advantages were concentrated in the “White Area.” No black person was allowed to purchase or occupy land in an area reserved for non-blacks.

Section 42(l)(a) of the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 provided that: “(a) No African shall acquire, lease or occupy land in the European Area;(b) No owner or occupier of land in the European Area, or his agent shall(i) dispose or attempt to dispose of any such land to an African;(ii) lease any such land to an African;(iii) permit, suffer or allow any African to occupy any such land.”

Under Section 44(3) a black person was permitted to occupy European land if he was undergoing instruction at an educational institution established for Africans and situated on European land, or if he was receiving treatment at a hospital or clinic situated on such land.

These exceptions illustrate how rigidly the policy of segregation was enforced.

The initial expropriation of African land was consolidated by the subsequent Rhodesian land settlement legislation, which provided for the allocation of land by race accompanied by policies of residential separation and other discriminatory practices.

In addition to the Land Apportionment Act, other discriminatory laws included the Land Husbandry Act (1950) and the amended Land Tenure Act (1969) (formerly the Land Apportionment Act).

All this was meant to strengthen white dominion over the most fertile and economically important land and to maintain the African population as a labouring class.

Today, the country’s agricultural landscape has changed for the better compared to what it was during Rhodesian times.

The resettled farmers are defining the success story of the land reform programme, with many doing well and contributing significantly to food security for the nation.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) executive director Mr Paul Zakariya said under the A1 model, more 150 000 families benefited from the land reform programme while 20 000 benefited under the A2 category.

“These are people that have taken over farms that were previously owned by only 4 000 white farmers. The resettled farmers are black Zimbabweans who ordinarily would not have had access to commercial farming,” he said.

“Because of the land reform programme, they have managed to have access to productive land. In terms of economic empowerment without land it is very difficult to claim that you have made it in life.”

Mr Zakariya said despite challenges at the initial stage, the land reform has over the years seen the country agricultural sector improving in terms of productivity.

“Through various Government schemes that have been made available, there has been a significant improvement in terms of productivity and statistics are there for everyone to see. Where we had dropped in terms of tobacco to figures like 60 million kg, we have improved and we are now over 200 million kg,” he said.

“We are also seeing an upward trend in all sub sectors of agriculture. Milk production which had gone down to 30 million litres is now at 85 million litres and our target is 120 million litres. Wheat had gone down to next to nothing and now the figures are beginning to pick up again.”

Mr Zakariya said in the absence of agricultural financing schemes from financial institutions, Government had to step in through schemes such as Command Agriculture and Presidential Input Scheme.

“Under the Presidential scheme, a lot of farmers benefited and received inputs including communal farmers under Intwasa/Pfumvudza.

If you look at the statistics coming out of our crop and livestock assessment, you will notice that the area planted has increased and this year we had good rains, which means the yields will be much better,” he said.

“Our A1 and A2 farmers are contributing a bulk of the crop that is going to the market. In terms of our cereal, we had dropped even in terms of yield per unit area to below a tonne per hectare.

“Now projections indicate that we are definitely going to have a better crop.”