USE IT OR LOSE IT PRINCIPLE TO APPLY TO AGRIC LAND: PRESIDENT MNANGAGWA
PRESIDENT and First Secretary of ZANU PF Emmerson Mnangagwa says non-productive holders of vast tracts of land will lose their holdings as his Government intensifies efforts to improve agriculture productivity in the country.
Many gallant sons and daughters of the soil died while others were maimed in order to afford many landless black majority with the right to land. Agriculture is critical to Zimbabwe’s economy providing 30 percent of export earnings and contributing 19 percent to GDP, while 70 percent of the population still survives on farming. The motto has therefore been productivity, productivity, productivity.
Addressing Provincial Ministers of State, President Mnangagwa said agriculture must remain vibrant as the sector offers the best opportunity for the country to modernise and develop.
"While the nation has experienced three successive years of drought coupled with Cyclone Idai and Covid19 negatively affecting growth, we must ensure the agriculture sector remains vibrant and be the nucleus which we develop and modernise,” President Mnangagwa said.
“Plans are afoot to create green belts in areas such as Masvingo, Bulawayo kraal and Kanyemba. The ongoing downsizing of farms will avail more land for productive use. The days of people holding large tracks of idle land are over. The use it or lose it principle will apply over and above the maximum farm size restrictions.”
President Mnangagwa said Government has put in place a number of policies to ensure the growth of agriculture.