THE decline in agricultural production, has to a greater extent been caused by the illegal sanctions imposed by the West and to a lesser degree by the failure by holders of vast tracts of land to use it productively.

Farmers have found it difficult to access loans from banks to inject into farming, not least because they lack collateral but more importantly because the banks that are head-quarted in the US and Britain are under instruction not to lend money to beneficiaries of land reform and this has impacted negatively on agricultural production.

But, the Government has in response to this, come in with crop inputs support schemes that have ensured that farmers put the land to productive use. While drought has also affected crop yields in most parts of the country, the situation has not been as dire as the West would have wanted it. We have still managed to produce maize, although inadequate to meet national food requirements.

There has been a realisation that vast tracts of land lie idle in most parts of the country for many reasons. Big firms and transnational corporations are holding onto huge tracts of land and yet nothing productive is taking place.

Yet there are still thousands of Zimbabweans who want land for resettlement. There have to be ways to make such firms and individuals utilise the land or give it up to Government for resettlement and one such way is asking them to pay rent.

It is for this reason that we applaud the Government for taking the decision to have the big firms and transnational corporations paying $10 per every hectare of land they hold in taxes.

While the Cabinet decision will certainly bring into the fiscus up to $1 million in rent, those holding onto land for the sake of it will have no choice but either to utilise it to be able to pay the rent or surrender it to the Government for resettlement.

Taxation of farmers will, without any doubt, spur full utilisation of the land as no one would want to pay rent for land on which there is zero production. Those firms and individuals who regard farming as a business will definitely work round the clock to ensure productivity on the land, break even and make profit.

This is when we will be able to separate real farmers from pretentious ones. Those into farming for the passion and commitment to contribute to national food security will be seen with their level of production while those in farming, as a weekend retreat, will also be seen leaving the farms as the pockets start being hurt by the rentals.

When the pocket is hit by the rent for land where there is no production taking place, surely the only two options available for the holders are either to productively use the land or to surrender it to Government. We are sure going to see many firms that have been holding onto vast tracts of unused land, giving them up to Government.

This would help Government with its resettlement programme, taking into account thousands of people who still want land for faming. There is a quite a number of youths who have been appealing to Government for land and we see this as an opportunity for them to be allocated land as firms and individuals, unable to pay the land rent, surrender it to the Government.

It is in fact very unfortunate that as a country we have allowed certain people and companies to hold onto land where there is no production taking place when there are thousands of people dying for the resource. There are individuals that are well-resourced to be able to productively use the land and contribute to the country’s GDP yet we have let these big firms being proud holders of unused land.

We commend the Government for taking this drastic decision to force companies to produce or to surrender the land.

The choice is theirs.

Paying of rent is not only targeted to big firms and transnational companies as A2 and commercial farmers are also paying rent for the land they hold and we feel this is the way to go.