Antony Chawagarira
HARARE — Land reform will only realise its full economic potential when secure land tenure is converted into access to finance, investment and increased agricultural productivity, Land Tenure Implementation Committee (LTIC) chairman Dr Kudakwashe Tagwirei has said.
Speaking at a high-level stakeholder breakfast meeting in Harare on Thursday, Dr Tagwirei challenged banks and insurers to regard the Government’s land-tenure reforms as an opportunity to support economic development rather than as a risk-management exercise.
He said the issuance of title deeds should go beyond providing legal security to farmers and become a foundation for unlocking capital and investment in the agricultural sector.
“To our banks and insurers, let me speak directly: treat this reform as an opportunity, not a risk-management exercise. The financing architecture is in place; we have five designated banks which carry the mortgage programme equally,” he said.
Dr Tagwirei said farmers were acquiring land at a 60 to 70 percent baseline discount granted by President Mnangagwa, with mortgages of up to 20 years at an interest rate of 7.5 percent per annum.
He said repayments would capitalise a US$16.8 billion Development Fund administered by the Ministry of Finance through a dedicated escrow account.
The fund, he said, would be recycled into compensation, debt reduction, infrastructure development, agricultural lending and reserves.
Dr Tagwirei said the land-tenure programme was expected to directly benefit about 352 000 citizens, while the Development Fund would support developmental projects across the country.
He said title deeds should facilitate access to financial products suited to farmers’ needs, including seasonal finance, asset finance and insurance.
“Secure tenure makes land bankable; bankable land attracts investment; investment raises productivity; and productivity delivers household and national prosperity,” he said.
Dr Tagwirei said 27 045 farms had been surveyed as at August 24, 2026, while 1 417 title deeds had been registered, with US$110.4 million in value already unlocked.
He, however, cautioned that the success of the programme should not be measured simply by the number of title deeds issued.
“A deed alone does not create wealth. Value is created in the ecosystem built around secure tenure — finance, markets, infrastructure, inputs, technology and technical support,” he said.
The LTIC was established to coordinate the implementation of Government’s land-tenure reforms, which seek to provide beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme with bankable, registrable and transferable tenure documents.
Dr Tagwirei said integrating agricultural land into the formal economy and national balance sheet would help transform the sector by creating greater certainty for long-term investment, improving access to collateral-based finance and facilitating orderly transactions and inheritance.
He said the ultimate objective was to ensure that secure land ownership translated into tangible economic empowerment for farmers and households.
