HARARE – Zimbabwe is preparing a new land policy aimed at strengthening tenure security for resettled farmers, potentially opening the way for greater investment and access to agricultural finance more than two decades after the country’s controversial land reform programme.
Lands and Rural Development Minister Vangelis Haritatos said the policy was in its final drafting stages and expected to receive Cabinet approval before the end of the year.
The Zimbabwe Mail, reporting on remarks attributed to Haritatos, said the proposed framework would seek to protect the gains of land redistribution while establishing a more transparent and inclusive system of agricultural land administration.
“The policy guarantees that the land reform is irreversible and moves us safely into a transformative rural economy,” Haritatos said.
The reforms could address a longstanding obstacle facing resettled farmers: the difficulty of using existing land tenure documents as collateral to secure commercial loans. Without bankable security, many farmers have struggled to finance irrigation, mechanisation and other long-term agricultural investments.
Haritatos said the policy would protect legitimate landholders while expanding opportunities for women, young people and vulnerable groups. However, the Government has yet to publish detailed provisions on ownership rights, transfers or the extent to which the new arrangements could be used as collateral.
The initiative comes 26 years after the launch of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in 2000, which transferred large areas of commercial farmland from predominantly white-owned estates to black Zimbabweans. While the programme sought to address historical inequalities in land ownership, its implementation disrupted agricultural production and left many beneficiaries with insecure tenure arrangements.
The proposed changes also come amid efforts to resolve compensation claims arising from the land seizures. In 2020, the Government agreed to a US$3.5 billion compensation framework with former commercial farmers for improvements made to properties. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has said approximately US$800 million has since been disbursed through cash payments and Treasury bills.
For Zimbabwe, stronger tenure arrangements could help improve confidence in the agricultural sector, encourage investment and make it easier for farmers to access the capital needed to raise productivity.
The policy’s economic significance will ultimately depend on the rights it grants, the credibility of its implementation and whether banks accept the resulting tenure instruments as reliable security for lending.
