341 white farmers to retain farms

Sunday Mail                                                                                      Sunday, 28 December, 2008 341 white farmers to retain farms Sunday Mail Reporter THE Government has recommended that 341 white farmers be allowed to continue farming throughout the country and is drafting their land offer letters and lease agreements to give them security of tenure as the Land Reform Programme nears conclusion. A further 97 white farmers will also be allowed to continue running conservancies in six provinces while 140 will be prosecuted for failing to vacate their farms after receiving eviction notices. This brings to 438 the number of farmers who have retained their farms out of the 6 708 that were operating in Zimbabwe before the launch of the Land Reform Programme. It has also emerged that 1 530 new farmers had received offer letters from the Government as at September 30, 2008, with figures expected to rise to 1 800 by the end of the week. A report tabled at the just ended ZanuPF National People’s Conference shows a further 278 farms covering over 522 000 hectares have been spared from acquisition as they are protected under Bilateral Protection Agreements (BIPAs) with 13 countries. “There is need to finalise the issue of white farmers to continue farming so as to give them security of tenure in the form of offer letters and/or lease agreements. There are also other white farmers with conservancies who have been recommended to continue operating. “A total of 140 farmers are to be prosecuted for failing to vacate farms after being issued with eviction notices,” reads part of the report. Countries whose farms were spared under BIPAs are Austria, Belgium, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Mauritius and Indonesia.  The report noted that there had been an improvement to land uptake with more people continuing to seek land to farm. Of the 15.5 million hectares originally owned by former large-scale white commercial farmers, 6 million hectares were to remain in terms of the national Land Policy target, the report said. The process of issuing 99-year leases to new farmers was continuing with 97 farmers having leases registered at the deeds office. Plans were underway to enhance the farm mechanisation process and to re-invigorate extension services through the development of additional personnel and procurement of supportive resources such as vehicles and motorbikes. The report recommended the repossession of underutilised farms and plots for re-allocation to people on the waiting list.