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Nyemudzai Kakore Herald Reporter
Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister  Dr Douglas Mombeshora, has said that  government will introduce land rentals for all resettled farmers to ensure that those that benefited fully utilise the land.At least 300,000 families have been resettled while an equal number is on the waiting list.

Addressing participants recently at the National Defence College course 3/2014 on the Land Tenure System and its Implication on National Security, Dr Mombeshora said A1 farmers will be charged a flat figure while A2 farmers will be charged per hectare.

Dr Mombeshora said part of the money will be used to conduct a land audit that will be carried out next year.

He said the proposed rentals will soon be presented to cabinet for approval.

“I have to sit down with the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing  Dr Ignatius Chombo to come up with figures,” he said.

Dr Mombeshora said all contract farmers and joint ventures were only allowed if they were registered with his ministry to curb the danger of farmers selling back the land to former colonisers.

He warned all resettled farmers not to lease land without approval from government.

“The government is allowing contract farming, joint ventures and partnerships for resettled farmers as long as they are registered with the Minister to ensure improved productivity,” he said.

He said government was emphasising the issue of maximum farm sizes according to ecological regions to ensure that many people are allocated  land.

“During Phase One of the land reform covering the period 1980 to 1998, government resettled 71,000 households on 3.5 million hectares against a target of 162,000 households.

“In October 1998, there was a donor conference organised to speed up the implementation of the land reform programme. Soon after the conference, the inception of phase two was implemented up to June 2000 (and) 4,697 families were resettled.

“Under the fast track phase, 145,775 families were resettled under model A1 while a further 18,289 families were resettled under Model A2,” he said.

Dr Mombeshora said although the figures of resettled farmers was impressive, more people were still waiting for land.