Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has indicated that the government will by the end of May roll out the second phase of the national agricultural land audit. The process is premised at rationalising farm ownership and sizes.
Ncube was speaking during a presentation of the ministerial statement on the State of the Economy where he revealed that the government was open to renegotiating the 99year lease which banks were rejecting as collateral.
Ncube reported that the first phase had only covered 6 percent of the targeted farmers. He said:
In 2018, His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa ordered the expeditious completion of the land audit which is expected to rationalise ownership and farm sizes.
Consequently, the Zimbabwe Land Commission (ZLC) undertook the first phase of the National Agricultural Land Audit which was conducted in 10 districts across the country’s 10 provinces between October and November last year.
He also said that the audit unearthed underutilisation of land due to lack of adequate funding.
The audit also revealed gross irregularities including multifarm ownership.
More: The Herald