Government has moved to do away with multiple farm owners and those sitting on large pieces of land by setting maximum land an individual can occupy in all the ecological regions, according to a government gazette published last week Friday.
According to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, no one is allowed to own a farm with more than 250 hectares in ecological region one.
“It is hereby notified that the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement has in terms of section 21 of the Land Commission Act (Chapter 20:21) made the following regulations:
“Subject to sections 5 and 6, no person shall own a farm in Natural Region One if the size of the farm exceeds 250 hectares or Natural Region Two if the size of the farm exceeds 500 hectares or Natural Region Three if the size of the farm exceeds 700 hectares or Natural Region Four if the size of the farm exceeds 1 000 hectares or Natural Region Five if the size of the farm exceeds 2 000 hectares.”
Natural Region One covers areas that receive an average rainfall above 1 000 millimeters per year, while Region Two receives an average rainfall between 650 millimeters and 1 000 millimeters annually.
A preliminary report of the land audit showed that some people owned huge farms in natural regions one and two, which were not being fully utilized.
In some cases, some people were multiple farm owners in those prime regions, denying others an opportunity to have access to land.
Since its independence from Britain in 1980, Zimbabwe has attempted four different land reform phases aimed at addressing land injustices and inequality inherited from the colonial era.
