News / National
Government to conduct land audit
19 Oct 2013 at 20:38hrs | Views
Government will soon conduct a land audit of the gazetted and re-distributed land to ensure transparency and fairness prevails in the re-allocation process, Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora has said.
Speaking during a familiarisation tour in the Midlands province Friday, Dr Mombeshora said the land audit would also be conducted to establish challenges beneficiaries of land reform programme were encountering.
"We want to conduct a land audit to ensure that the gazetted land has been re-distributed to the rightful beneficiaries. We also want to establish why there has been underutilisation of land by the resettled farmers. We would also want to improve production and use of land by the resettled farmers," he said.
Dr Mombeshora said the land audit would also enable the ministry to curb multi-farm ownership by individuals.
"We have had a situation where an individual owns more than one farm while others are yet to benefit. Such challenges and setbacks can only be curbed by the land audit. We want transparency in the land re-allocation process. This will also ensure that land is given to the rightful beneficiaries," he said.
Dr Mombeshora said the Government would also speed up the process of issuing offer letters to resettled farmers to enable them to access loans to enhance their agricultural activities and intensify production.
He said this would also end the chaos of more than one person claiming the same piece of land.
Dr Mombeshora said Government would provide tenure documents to resettled farmers to enable them to venture into partnerships with investors who might be interested in farming.
"We are hoping that by end of November we would have compiled the whole list of the beneficiaries of the land reform who are still to receive their offer letters so that they will be processed in time."
"We have had situations where more than one person claim the same piece of land. If the beneficiaries of the land reform are issued with offer letters, this will also put an end to such challenges," he said.
He said there was need for Government to give the resettled farmers adequate support so as to boost production and ensure full utilisation of land by beneficiaries.
Dr Mombeshora said Government would also assess idle farms owned by indigenous people so that the land would be gazetted and reallocated to other beneficiaries.
He also called upon indigenous farmers who were underutilising land to voluntarily give land to other people who might have the capacity to productively use the land.
"There are farms and plots that are idle after beneficiaries abandoned them. These farms will be assessed so that they will be reallocated to other beneficiaries. We want to down size them," he said.
Speaking during a familiarisation tour in the Midlands province Friday, Dr Mombeshora said the land audit would also be conducted to establish challenges beneficiaries of land reform programme were encountering.
"We want to conduct a land audit to ensure that the gazetted land has been re-distributed to the rightful beneficiaries. We also want to establish why there has been underutilisation of land by the resettled farmers. We would also want to improve production and use of land by the resettled farmers," he said.
Dr Mombeshora said the land audit would also enable the ministry to curb multi-farm ownership by individuals.
"We have had a situation where an individual owns more than one farm while others are yet to benefit. Such challenges and setbacks can only be curbed by the land audit. We want transparency in the land re-allocation process. This will also ensure that land is given to the rightful beneficiaries," he said.
Dr Mombeshora said the Government would also speed up the process of issuing offer letters to resettled farmers to enable them to access loans to enhance their agricultural activities and intensify production.
He said this would also end the chaos of more than one person claiming the same piece of land.
Dr Mombeshora said Government would provide tenure documents to resettled farmers to enable them to venture into partnerships with investors who might be interested in farming.
"We are hoping that by end of November we would have compiled the whole list of the beneficiaries of the land reform who are still to receive their offer letters so that they will be processed in time."
"We have had situations where more than one person claim the same piece of land. If the beneficiaries of the land reform are issued with offer letters, this will also put an end to such challenges," he said.
He said there was need for Government to give the resettled farmers adequate support so as to boost production and ensure full utilisation of land by beneficiaries.
Dr Mombeshora said Government would also assess idle farms owned by indigenous people so that the land would be gazetted and reallocated to other beneficiaries.
He also called upon indigenous farmers who were underutilising land to voluntarily give land to other people who might have the capacity to productively use the land.
"There are farms and plots that are idle after beneficiaries abandoned them. These farms will be assessed so that they will be reallocated to other beneficiaries. We want to down size them," he said.
Source - Herald
