Staff Reporter
HARARE — Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme is entering a new phase focused on consolidating gains made since its inception while unlocking greater productivity, investment and economic opportunities from the country’s land resources.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands and Rural Development Professor Prosper Matondi said Government was working to create a secure, bankable and digitally integrated land tenure system that would allow farmers and communities to derive greater economic value from their land.
Prof Matondi was speaking before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands at Parliament Building in Mt Hampden on Tuesday.
He said the country had moved beyond the question of access to land and was now focusing on ensuring that land became a productive asset capable of generating income, wealth and sustainable livelihoods.
“We have taken the time to reflect on what land means for us. It is probably one of the most uniting assets for all of us, a uniting asset in the sense that it offers enormous opportunities for self-development, livelihoods, and better income,” he said.
Prof Matondi said Government was strengthening land administration systems, improving tenure security and modernising processes to support productive utilisation of agricultural land.
He said the issuance of title deeds and other secure tenure instruments was central to the transformation as they could provide farmers with greater certainty and improve their prospects of accessing financial services.
According to Prof Matondi, growing demand from farmers seeking to regularise their tenure had resulted in increased participation by financial institutions.
“Originally, we had only one bank participating in the programme. Then, over time, because of the interest shown by farmers who wanted to regularise their tenure, Government opened it up, and now other banks are coming in to participate in the programme,” he said.
“I am sure that will broaden the opportunities for our clients.”
The increased involvement of banks is expected to strengthen the connection between land ownership security, access to finance and agricultural investment.
Prof Matondi said Government was also undertaking a major digital transformation of the land administration system through the development of the National Cadastre System.
The system is expected to bring together information currently held in different databases, including land records, mapping, surveys, allocations and acquisitions.
“We currently operate several different databases that we now want to synchronise and migrate onto better digital platforms,” he said.
“What I want is for a client to request a map of their farm and immediately access Surveyor-General information and any other relevant information from a single platform.”
Prof Matondi said the National Cadastre System would make it easier for farmers and other land users to access information while improving the efficiency of Government services.
“That is what the National Cadastre System is intended to address, and we genuinely want to move in that direction so that clients have better access to their information and receive more efficient services,” he said.
Beyond digitisation, Government is also working towards a comprehensive national spatial land-use plan to guide the utilisation of land according to its potential.
Prof Matondi said such a plan would help farmers and investors determine the most suitable activities for particular areas while assisting Government in planning infrastructure development.
“If someone wants to become a livestock farmer, they will know exactly where livestock production is appropriate. If they want to grow macadamia, they will know where those conditions exist,” he said.
The plan would also assist in identifying and securing land required for strategic infrastructure such as roads, airports, pipelines and bridges.
Prof Matondi said the next phase of land reform represented an opportunity to build on the historic transformation of land ownership while ensuring that its economic benefits were fully realised.
“You cannot easily compare it with any other,” he said of the Land Reform Programme.
“However, the responsibility for taking this historic programme to its next level rests with us. We are the generation entrusted with building on the foundation created through the land reform and translating its gains into greater certainty, productivity, investment and prosperity.”
He said stronger land administration systems, secure tenure, digital records, access to finance and coordinated spatial planning would be critical in ensuring that land contributes more significantly to national development.
“By strengthening the systems around land and opening up new opportunities for its productive use, we can ensure that the full value of this transformation is realised for generations to come.”
