More than 50 commercial Zimbabwean farmers have submitted requests for land leases in Mozambique, with the Mozambique government so far agreeing to allow at least 13 to settle in the country.
The 13 farmers will be settled in the fertile central province of Manica, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
Each of these farmers will be given 1 000 hectares of land, in line with Mozambican law that only allows land to be leased for up to 50 years, the ministry of agriculture and rural development said in a statement.
Mozambican law does not allow land to be sold.
Two farmers were allotted land near the administrative post of Mavonde, 10 in Barue district, and one near the administrative post of Vanduze. All the land is in Manica province, which borders Zimbabwe.
Most farmers have almost completed the necessary legal process and the 13 should soon receive official leases to the land, the statement said.
In a few cases, local communities are yet to be consulted on the proposed settlement of white farmers, the statement said.
Zimbabwe’s government has earmarked about 95% of white-owned land for resettlement by black Zimbabweans. For more than two years, white farmers have been the target of politically-motivated attacks by pro-government militants who in some cases forcibly occupied their land.
Mozambique has taken a cautious approach to requests from white farmers for land, hoping to avoid importing Zimbabwe’s inequitable pattern of land ownership, in which the tiny white minority owns more than one-quarter of the nation’s land. – Sapa-AFP