News / National
Zimbabwe to conduct farm by farm audits
16 Apr 2012 at 05:01hrs | Views
THE Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement will this year conduct a farm-by-farm audit to establish the extent of the challenges resettled farmers are facing.
Acting Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister Joseph Made told Parliament recently that the verification programme will help Government come up with proper policies for resettled farmers.
To date, a total of 145 775 A1 and 18 289 A2 farmers have benefited from land reform.
"In its day-to-day operations, the ministry has established that farmers are facing various challenges which interfere with farm productivity and farm utilisation.
"Financial support to farming operations is very limited from financial institutions," Minister Made said.
He said farmers faced various challenges from erratic power supply to inadequate extension services and poor infrastructure.
Minister Made said the farm-by-farm verification programme will replace a larger land audit due to lack of finances.
"These are issues which would have been captured in the proposed national land audit had funding been provided for its implementation. In the absence of funding for a larger land audit, the ministry plans to carry out verification assessments on a farm-by-farm basis.
"If resources are availed to the ministry, the plan is to do verification assessments on a farm-by-farm basis to
establish specific challenges per farmer, land utilisation and productivity trends per farm and assess land uptake per farm," he said. Resettled farmers have defied odds by increasing yields despite facing many challenges.
Last year, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told the House of Assembly that major crops had recorded increased yields with the exception of tea and coffee.
Government is however, working on three to five years rolling financing plan for farmers that will do away with the ad-hoc preparations, which have resulted in the late disbursement of inputs.
Acting Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister Joseph Made told Parliament recently that the verification programme will help Government come up with proper policies for resettled farmers.
To date, a total of 145 775 A1 and 18 289 A2 farmers have benefited from land reform.
"In its day-to-day operations, the ministry has established that farmers are facing various challenges which interfere with farm productivity and farm utilisation.
"Financial support to farming operations is very limited from financial institutions," Minister Made said.
He said farmers faced various challenges from erratic power supply to inadequate extension services and poor infrastructure.
Minister Made said the farm-by-farm verification programme will replace a larger land audit due to lack of finances.
"These are issues which would have been captured in the proposed national land audit had funding been provided for its implementation. In the absence of funding for a larger land audit, the ministry plans to carry out verification assessments on a farm-by-farm basis.
"If resources are availed to the ministry, the plan is to do verification assessments on a farm-by-farm basis to
establish specific challenges per farmer, land utilisation and productivity trends per farm and assess land uptake per farm," he said. Resettled farmers have defied odds by increasing yields despite facing many challenges.
Last year, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told the House of Assembly that major crops had recorded increased yields with the exception of tea and coffee.
Government is however, working on three to five years rolling financing plan for farmers that will do away with the ad-hoc preparations, which have resulted in the late disbursement of inputs.
Source - TH
