By Chipo Gudhe

The Minister of Land Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka fired a salvo at aspiring land owners bluntly telling them that Zimbabwe’s  land is not elastic.

Addressing farmers at a recent wheat seminar in Kwekwe, Dr. Masuka urged young people to form partnerships with current landowners instead of clamoring for farming land allocations.

“I am tired of people saying they want to farm but do not have land. Now I have one response: I will simply ask if their fathers have land. If the answer is yes, I then tell them to utilize that land. The land that the father has can be equated to a company, with the holder of the land as the chairman and the child as the managing director. They should work together,” Dr. Masuka said.

Dr. Masuka pointed out that the land waiting list is extensive, bluntly telling youths that land was not elastic.

“We currently have 280,000 Zimbabweans on the land waiting list and 10,000 others in the diaspora. Zimbabwe’s land is not elastic, and we cannot give every Zimbabwean land. You do not have to own land to be a farmer; enter into partnerships with those who already have land and utilize the land your family has,” he said.

Dr. Masuka said the government’s land policy, stipulates that each family is entitled to one farm. He encouraged aspiring farmers to make use of family land and collaborate with existing landholders to maximize agricultural productivity.

“You do not have to have land to be a farmer, enter into partnerships as youths with those who already have land, utilize the land that your family has. We already have a land policy that says one family one farm use that land,” he said.