Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development minister Anxious Masuka said people who want to venture into farming but do not have land should opt for joint ventures as there is no land to give everyone.
Speaking to Business Times in a recent interview, Masuka said one does not need to have a piece of land to be a farmer. He said:
There are more than 250 000 applicants on the land waiting list and not everyone can get land there.
I have often said, you do not have to own land in order to do business on it, just like you do not have to own a house in order to live in it.
The Government says 360 000 A1 and 21 000 A2 farmers benefitted from the land reform programme.
Last year, Masuka told the Parliament that all land put aside for resettlement had been exhausted. He said then:
As of now, most of the land has been distributed. If you go around, you will not find a place that is vacant.
Even where there is no farming, in the registry, these farms will have owners.
All the farms that are available have been given. One may move around and see an unsettled farm but invariably on our records, that farm would have been offered to someone.
So on our database, it will appear as if it is occupied to an extent, because there is no additional land that is available to give to people.
We now have gone back to look at redistributing that which we have given to others already.