Mugabe permits no help to new farmers #zimbabwe

NEWLY introduced land permits for resettled smallholder
farmers will bring little gain to the thousands of
beneficiaries who are struggling to get loans from banks to
finance their operations, say farmers' organizations and
analysts.
President Robert Mugabe launched the new "A1" land
permit at the beginning of July at a ceremony in rural
Mashonaland East Province where he described the
document as a reason for Zimbabwe to "celebrate the
emancipation and empowerment of our people".
So far only 2,000 out of more than 200,000 resettled farmers
have received the new document.
The permit will replace the offer letters that the farmers
received following the fast-track land redistribution
programme that started in 2000, eventually forcing more
than 4,500 white commercial farmers off their plots to make
way for landless blacks. The offer letters gave the resettled
farmers 99-year leases, but banks refused to accept them
as collateral when approached for loans to buy farming
inputs, grow livestock numbers, diversify crops and pay
labourers.
According to the Lands Ministry, the new permits can be
used as title deeds and will be issued to "indigenous"-
meaning black according to the indigenization law -
Zimbabweans settled on a "properly planned and verified
farm".
The permits can be inherited by family members and
spouses while divorced spouses can still retain landholding
rights. The old offer letters did not specify whether the
resettled farms could be inherited, although surviving
spouses and children often continued to live on and work
the land, sometimes leading to ownership disputes.
However, even under the new permits, ultimate ownership of
the land continues to rest with the State which can
repossess farms not being fully utilized.
Current permit-holders are expected to build decent
homesteads on their plots, avoid sub-letting their
properties and ensure that there are clean and safe water
sources. According to the Lands Ministry, farmers whose
land is repossessed by the government will be able to claim
compensation for any improvements made while they
occupied it.
The Lands Ministry initially said the new document would
not only give farmers greater security of tenure but could be
used to borrow money from banks, encouraging investment
into farms.