Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT is working on new land tenure documents for farmers resettled under the A1 and A2 models, Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora, has said.Minister Mombeshora said this in the Senate yesterday while responding to a question by Rushinga Senator Cde Damian Mumvuri on how farmers could access 99-year lease documents.
“We are working on two types of tenure documents. As you know, we have two models of land the A1 and A2,” he said.
“For the A1 model, what we have come up with is a permit. We have gone to the stage where we have finalised it and it’s ready to roll out what is left to take it to Cabinet just for the formalities.
“The document will outline rules and regulations for ownership of land; it also outlines issues of inheritance and also issues of polygamy.”
Minister Mombeshora added that the permit would also outline the grounds under which the minister can withdraw the offer for land.
“The second document is the 99-year lease. There is the 99-year lease which has been in circulation. We are in the process of coming up with a 99-year lease which would be bankable, as you know banks have been refusing the old 99 year lease,” he said.
The minister said they were currently consulting banks and other stakeholders to come up with a lease documents acceptable to all parties but said Government did not want a document that may lead to the reversal of the land reform programme.
“We are, however, worried with a tenure document which would reverse the land reform programme where if a farmer fails to pay off the loan the land is sold off to people who have money,” Minister Mombeshora said.
Banks have failed to access long- term financing from financial institutions who insist on security before disbursing the loans.
Meanwhile, a parliamentarian has called on Government to ban the importation of horticultural produce and support local products.
Speaking during a field visit on rural youth skills empowerment programme by delegates from the International Labour Organisation and the Embassy of Denmark in Mutoko on Wednesday, Mutoko South legislator Cde David Chapfika said imports affected local farmers.
“We need to launch a campaign against importation of horticultural products because it is bad for the business of our local farmers,” he said.
“The National Biotechnology Authority should be in the forefront of regulating all food imports to ensure only products safe for consumption are brought into the country because some of these genetically modified products such as tomatoes and potatoes that are flooding the market are associated with some diseases that harm us and we have to put an end to it.
“It is important to support our local farmers who produce organically rich products so that their produce will not be wasted when they reach the market,” he said.
The initiative ,which was implemented by the ILO and the Embassy of Denmark, has benefited more than 10 000 people throughout the country.
Minister of State for Mashonaland East Province Simbaneuta Mudarikwa said the programme was inline with the country’s economic blueprint.
“The programme that I have seen today is a true exercise of Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset) and has shown me the need for the Government to work together with various stakeholders to make it a success,” he said.
“This initiative shows that Zim-Asset is now accepted at grassroots level as we have seen with our farmers because they are producing products to cover food security and addressing the issue of poverty. Not only that but the products are also nutritious and we now have our youths here being empowered and having jobs as they work in the farms.”