Zimbabwe embarked on a land redistribution exercise 15 years ago, which many agree resulted in a massive decline in agricultural production

Lovemore Chazingwa
THE Head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Zimbabwe has said Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector has shrunk to such a level that it is now the least productive in the region, despite having been the best over a decade ago.
Ambassador Philippe Van Damme said this while making remarks to delegates attending the Initial Consultative Workshop on Consensus Based Compensation Mechanism for the Agricultural Sector, in Harare last Thursday.
“Land is a key resource for the development and prosperity of Zimbabwe and its people. Considering the huge potential of a fertile soil, common efforts are necessary to unlock this potential.
“In fact, nowadays and because of the compounding factors such as climate change, inadequate farming practices, poor infrastructure or limited access to inputs and credit, the productivity of the agriculture sector in Zimbabwe is among the lowest in the region,” he said.
Zimbabwe embarked on a land redistribution exercise 15 years ago, which many agree resulted in a massive decline in agricultural production after government expropriated white-owned farms and distributed them to landless blacks.
Van Damme said the EU recognised the potential of the agricultural sector in the country. It was therefore supporting a programme for the resolution of outstanding issues in the land reform programme.
“To unlock the potential of land, close attention needs to be paid to the effective implementation of the land reform. For many years implementation of this reform has generated frustrations and conflict situations.
“The EU supported programme has the ambition to be catalytic in addressing the critical areas towards the finalisation of some of the main outstanding issues such as base mapping and surveying of the resettled areas, valuation of land and its improvements, conflict resolution, review of the land tenure policy as well as supporting the functioning of the forthcoming Land Commission,” he explained.
Van Damme emphasised the need to not only compensate the previous owners for their investments but also enhance the present and future security of land tenure.
“But we have to put this exercise in a broader, long-term perspective. Compensation for the investments on the land is not only a legal and moral obligation, but also critical to enhance present and future security of land tenure and to rebuild the attractiveness of land for agricultural investment.
“While you will be addressing compensation mechanisms, progress must be made on other aspects of the agricultural reform agenda, such as the updating of the land cadastre for the 18 000 A2 and 140 000 A1 settlers, security of tenure, including making the 99 year leases bankable and tradable as collateral for the investment credit, as well as accelerating the setting up of the new Land Commission, whose role will be essential in the future to address key issues of accountability, fairness and transparency in the administration of agricultural land,” he said.
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