Government seeks 99-year lease breakthrough

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ZIMBABWE could be on the verge of finally resolving the contentious land tenure issue, close to two-and-a-half decades after the onset of the land reform programme, as the government says it is inching closer to producing a bankable 99-year lease.
This was revealed by a confident Agriculture permanent secretary John Basera, though a degree of scepticism still remains on the market that the new document will finally put to rest the security of tenure issues, particularly with the US$3,5 billion farmer compensation bill still to be settled.
According to the latest Zimbabwe Agriculture Sector Survey, commissioned by The Financial Gazette and the Zimbabwe Agriculture Society in partnership with CBZ Bank, the country requires over US$1,2 billion to effectively fund the agriculture sector annually.