Harare, (New Ziana) – The government has started issuing title deeds to all beneficiaries of the country’s land reform programme to help them secure funding to develop their operations.
Zimbabwe has a specialised agricultural financial institution, Agribank and 23 other commercial and merchant banks that provide loans to farmers.
Agro-dealers and private contractors have played a pivotal role in direct financing of farm production through off-shore finance facilities. Lack of title has, however, often made securing such loans difficult for many beneficiaries of the land redistribution exercise.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last December launched the Land Tenure Implementation programme and handed over title deeds to the first group of land reform beneficiaries, making land allocated to farmers more secure, bankable and transferable.
The title deeds enable farmers to access credit facilities, buy inputs and hire labour, thereby boosting production.
In a notice this week, the Ministries of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs indicated that they have started issuing tittle deeds to beneficiaries of the land reform programme.
These include holders of valid offer letters, A2 permits, 99-year leases, A1 Settlement Permits, A1 Temporary Permits and ALSA leases.
“Surveyed farms will be processed within three days for farmers paying cash on the purchase price. Farmers paying the purchase price within 90 days, will be deemed as a cash payment, and will have the title deeds processed upon payment of deposit and then collect deeds after full payment,” read the notice.
“Farmers who require mortgage arrangements are advised that, Government is finalizing the modalities with selected banks for this facility. Once the modalities are completed, the nation will be informed. Initially all processes will be done at the Harare One-Stop Centre, at Makombe Complex, and this will be decentralized to provinces and selected districts in due course.”
New Ziana
