Zimbabwe will give Black farmers who benefited from land seizures in the early 2000s tenure, allowing them to use their properties as collateral or sell them, reports Bloomberg.
“All land held by beneficiaries of the land reform program under 99-year leases, offer letters and permits will now be held under a bankable, registrable and transferable more secure document of tenure, to be issued by the government,” said Information Minister Jenfan Muswere Oct. 8 in Harare.
The latest “measures will have a huge impact on our economic growth, and will unlock the full value of the land while enhancing the performance of our economy,” Muswere said. “This will facilitate accelerated investments in agriculture and associated value chains, which include irrigation, dam construction, power supply and rural road construction.”
Nearly two decades ago, Zimbabwe under then President Robert Mugabe began seizing properties from commercial farmers, including many tobacco farmers, in order to redress “colonial imbalances.”
Most prime properties in the country were held by whites, who constitute a minority of Zimbabwe’s population
The controversial land reform program caused Zimbabwe’s agricultural industry and tobacco output to collapse, causing a severe economic crisis characterized by hyperinflation and other problems.
Whereas Zimbabwe’s entire tobacco crop was once supplied by perhaps 1,500 large-scale growers, today’s crop is supplied more than 100,000 smallholders.
The southern African country has since agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to the white commercial farmers.
In terms of volume, the tobacco industry has recovered from land reform. In 2023, Zimbabwe harvested a record 296 million kg and earned more than $1 billion from leaf exports.