- Govt reduces farm sizes
- Securocrats clash with land officers
SECUROCRATS have reportedly hi-jacked government’s programme of downsizing farms in order to boost capacity utilisation following failure to produce sufficient food to feed the country.
A source in Mashonaland Central said men who identified themselves as high ranking military personnel reportedly invaded a farm and distributed a portion of it among themselves claiming the farm was more than the 250 hectares allowed for a single farmer within that province.
“Last week, they went to Mashonaland Central and clashed with the land officers there because they were derailing government’s process of reducing farm sizes,” the source revealed.
Meanwhile, the land audit team has recommended the reduction of farm sizes in the country’s five ecological regions, in a move that set to see more people get access to land.
In a government gazette, Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement minister Perrance Shiri put in place measures which would see the biggest farm not exceeding more than 250 hectares in ecological region one.
“Subject to sections 5 and 6, no person shall own a farm in natural region 1, if the size of the farm exceeds 250ha or natural region 2 if the size of the farm exceeds 500ha, or natural region 3 if the size of the farm exceeds 700ha,” he said.
Investigations also show that politicians and other senior government officials are derailing the process as they clash with provincial land officers.