mbulelo smpofu
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa on Friday launched the Land Tenure Implementation programme at Pricabe Farm in Kwekwe where he handed over title deeds to the first group of land reform beneficiaries. This means land allocated to farmers under the land reform programme is now more secure, bankable and transferable.
The title deeds enable farmers to access credit facilities, buy inputs and hire labour, thereby boosting production. President Mnangagwa implored financial institutions to embrace the title deeds in order to improve the farmers’ access to finance and capital which is critical for production.
He said the Constitution gives rights to every Zimbabwean citizen to acquire, hold, occupy, use, transfer or dispose of agricultural land.
“Land tenure security is therefore critically important to Zimbabwe’s economic growth and development. It encourages investment, improves agricultural production and productivity, and lifts many out of poverty,” said President Mnangagwa.
He said Government had therefore made a bold decision to empower the beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme by giving them tenure that will unlock the value of the country’s land by allowing it to be used as collateral.
It is our hope that once the farmers receive the title deeds, they are able to fund their operations and buy the required inputs instead of waiting for Government inputs as has been the case over the years.
Government, we want to believe, has weaned off the farmers who have been given title deeds as they can use their land as collateral to access loans. This, however, needs the support of the financial institutions hence President Mnangagwa has urged banks and other financial institutions to embrace the new title deeds. It is however, pleasing to note that some beneficiaries of the land reform programme are already fully utilising the land and we expect the number of such farmers to rise sharply now that farmers can access loans and other credit facilities.
There is therefore no excuse for Zimbabwe to fail to reclaim its status as the food basket of southern Africa. Farmers should shame the doomsayers who have been criticising the country’s land reform programme by boosting production so that the country does not just produce for its consumption but surplus for export.
