THURSDAY, 10.30PM
CLAIMS by the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union that some of the 1 480 farms recently designated by the government for redistribution to landless peasants are among the country’s most highly utilised and productive farms were on Thursday dismissed by the Minister of Land and Agriculture.
Farms designated were either derelict or under-utilised land, Agriculture Minister Kumbirai Kangai said at the ruling Zanu-PF annual conference.
He said the farms are owned by absentee landlords, are under multiple ownership or are adjacent to communal lands.
Kangai claimed the government’s land redistribution policies have received international support. He added that the assertion that Zimbabwe’s agriculture will collapse should government go ahead and seize the farms is wrong. He claimed the government is determined to ensure the land allocated to resettled farmers is productive.