By Tawanda Musariri in Karoi
Young farmers plying their trade in Hurungwe District have petitioned Provincial Minister, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka to assist them in acquiring farmland, the Harare Post can reveal.
The youthful farmers who organised a farming indaba with Minister Mliswa and deputy minister for Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, Hon Vangelis Haritatos said they had to make do with renting farms from unproductive farmers who hold title to land.
An enterprising farmer, Pardon Mhuri told the minister before the gathering that land holders are charging extortionate fees to allow them to utilise their land. Mhuri has 150hactres under tobacco on a rented farm this season.
Chairman of the Youth in Agriculture (YIA), John Muchenje made allegations of farm owners demanding vehicles as fees for using their underutilised farms.
'Land holders who are failing to utilise their farmland are demanding as much as 20 percent of gross earnings, depleting our profit margin significantly. This arrangement is inhibitory for us to continue farming. The farm owners fail to consider operational costs incurred by the farmer since they demand payment on gross earnings. This is not sustainable,” said Muchenje
Pleading with Ministers Mliswa and Haritatos, the youths suggested that youths utilising leased land productively must be issued offer letters on the same land they will be leasing, dispossessing the lesser.
“Land is a national resource which nobody should rent out to fellow farmers,” said YIA Mashonaland West provincial Ambassador Tapiwa Masenda.
Minister Mliswa-Chikoka sympathised encouraged the youths and anyone with information on land holders who were renting out farms to come forward.
Youths who spoke to the Harare Post said acquiring land through the Lands Office was no small task and purported that corruption could be driving the process. Minister Mliswa promised to comb into the matter with her counterpart, Hon Haritatos. She further warned Lands officials practising corruption that they risked losing their jobs and face prosecution. She invited anyone with information on unallocated or underutilised farms to approach her office for redress with the cooperation of the lands ministry.
