THE GOVERNMENT should urgently finalise the land audit for the country to attract foreign investment in the agriculture sector, Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) chairman Nigel Chanakira has said.
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Chanakira told a food summit held in Bulawayo last week that violation of property rights during the chaotic land reform programme scared away foreign investment in the agriculture sector.
He said there was need for a “one man one farm” policy and restoration of property rights.
“International capital is a coward. The government should finalise the land audit exercise and this will restore the international community’s confidence in the country regarding the respect of property rights. That way we can attract foreign financing,” he said.
“Our politics took us out of accessing multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, African Development Bank, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the European Commission, and a growing number of bilateral development partners for assistance in food production through institutions.”
The prominent banker said the existence of a strong legal framework and judiciary relating to land tenure, regulations, policies and the availability of incentives and government finance programmes including tax incentives, employment creation incentives, and efficient dispute resolution mechanism would go a long way in the revival of agriculture.
He said the availability of debt and equity finance supporting agriculture and insurance products for farmers and strong macro-economic, solid national financial structures that allow profit repatriation, and the availability of investment guarantees would also help to revive the sector.
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The land reform programme saw hundreds of predominantly white commercial farmers being forcibly removed from their farms and this led to the shrinking of the agriculture sector, once the mainstay of the economy.
