Communal farmers will be exempted from paying the land rentals and unit tax

COMMUNAL farmers will be exempted from paying the land rentals and unit tax of US$5 per hectare introduced by government early this year, a Cabinet minister has said.
However, all beneficiaries of the land reform programme will be liable to pay the US$15 for A1 farmers and US$5 per hectare per year for A2 farmers.
This is meant to mobilise resources for infrastructure development in resettled areas.
From the over 300 000 resettled farmers, government is targeting to raise at least US$5 million every year from the levy for infrastructural development.
In the absence of irrigation development, most farmers have failed to move from subsistence to commercial farming where higher yields are realised, hence the need for government to come up with strategies to finance infrastructure development.
Infrastructure in the form of roads, machinery and equipment and post harvest handling facilities should also be made accessible to farmers as part of the agriculture recovery process.
The land tax (land rentals) was recently approved by Cabinet and will be collected by the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement, which will also be responsible for collecting unit tax.
Unit tax was already being charged by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
Responding to a question on the introduction of the taxation system from Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke in Parliament last week, Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora said communal farmers would not be charged any land rentals but new farmers who were allocated land as either A1 or A2 farmers would be charged land rental and unit tax because the land belongs to the State.
“We have introduced the land rentals because all agricultural land belongs to the State. All land that has been acquired for agriculture by the State can only be utilised or owned through an offer letter, lease or permit. A permit is issued to A1 farmers.
“Offer letters and leases are issued to A2 farmers. Those who hold title deeds are not affected by this new policy. We are saying it is not fair that I use land that belongs to the State for free yet somebody who requires that land does not have access to that land,” Mombeshora explained.
He told Parliament that A1 farmers, whose plots average six hectares, would be charged a standard land rental of US$10 a year and a unit tax of US$5 a year, making a total of US$15 a year.
A2 farmers, who are medium to large-scale commercial farmers, would be charged a rental of US$3 per hectare and unit tax of US$2 per hectare, making a total of US$5 per hectare.
“Land rentals are going to be charged separately and at different rates for A2 and A1 farmers. For A1 farmers, the land rentals would be charged at the rate of US$10 per annum. It is a flat fee. The unit tax is US$5 per annum. Therefore, the total amount required for both land rentals and unit tax would be US$15 per annum per household.
“For the A2 model, the land rentals would be charged per hectare at the rate of US$3 per hectare per annum and the unit tax would be US$2 per hectare per annum. When you combine the unit tax and the land rental, it will be a total of US$5 per hectare per annum. These have got different sizes and you pay according to the size of land that you will be utilising. Communal land will not be charged land rentals. Those are exempted,” Mombeshora said.
[email protected]