NOW that almost everyone is in a farming mood with the offset of the rains, which look promising, the Government’s decision to reallocate land to the thousands on the waiting list for farms, couldn’t have come at a better time.

Agriculture is the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy, with over 60 percent of the population getting their employment and income from this sector.

Thus, it is inconceivable that a country with such a potential should be seeing abandoned arable land or farms that are underutilised.

The land revolution of 2000 was meant to give blacks an equal chance with whites to use their land.

The very essence of this revolution was to make the country food secure.

With everyone being given an equal chance to farm in any part of the country, it appeared this would be possible.

Regrettably, it soon turned out that not all the land was being used to its full potential.

What with big swathes of land being underutilised!

Some greedy people even got more than one farm, contrary to the one-person one-farm policy.

In a number cases, some did it more for aggrandisement as opposed to farming purposes per se.

Yet at the same time the number of genuine farming enthusiasts in need of land has kept on growing.

The Government had to act.

It had come to the notice of the authorities that there were serious irregularities in the distribution of land.

The best way to find a solution to this situation was to carry out a meticulous land audit first.

This would establish, not only anomalies in the distribution of land, but also assess how those on farms were using their land.

The desired audit which was recently concluded was launched in 2018.

Armed with the results of the audit, the relevant ministry has already indicated its desire to see an upward transformation in agriculture.

This should see A2 farms become viable businesses by 2025 and A1 beneficiaries, with Government help, develop into small-to-medium enterprises.

The process of reallocation of land has been carried out in fits and starts already. But this time, with the land audit having already educated the responsible authorities of possible pitfalls, we expect it to be carried out conclusively.

This should be good news to the expected up to 260 000 new beneficiaries on the waiting list, Diasporans included.

We expect every piece of farm land to be put to good use.

A precedent that beneficiaries not using their land will lose it has already been set. Idle arable land should be an eyesore, in a country where agriculture is the mainstay, is the message that should be driven home.

Corrupt land officers responsible for fraudulent land distribution must have been rid of by now.

And beneficiaries of such ill practices, will learn the hard way as they lose their ill-gotten favours.

Those from the communal lands are already assured of food security through Pfumvudza/Intwasa, if we are to go by previous harvests.

Surplus for commercial purposes should be a given this promising rain season. Joined by A1 and A2 farmers, we should expect a lot more surplus for export come 2025.

Already our farmers are showing a knack of venturing into new areas on a big scale. 

This season the country has already achieved a record wheat harvest since commercial production began in the 1960s.

That was at a time this was seen mainly as a whiteman’s crop, just like tobacco. 

As we have already said, the land redistribution of 2000 was a revolution.

And a revolution is not an event.

With the ongoing land reallocation to benefit at least 260 000 farmers, we expect our agricultural production to reach dizzy heights.