Land barons parcel out Agric ministry land

RYAN CHIGOCHE

Desperate home seekers have been duped of thousands of their United States dollars  as land barons illegally parcelled out 500 hectares land in Hatcliffe belonging to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement,

Minister of State in the Office of the President and Cabinet in charge of  Monitoring the Implementation of Special Agriculture and related programmes, Davis Marapira said this week that the government “should take back” the land parcelled out by the land barons.

The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water  and Rural Resettlement had allocated 600 hectares of land to the  Institute of Agriculture Engineering.

But, the institute is only left with 100 hectares after 500 hectares were taken by private housing developers.

“From what we gather here ,we are only left with 100 hectares. We have private developers taking 500 hectares of Ministry of Agriculture land and starting to put houses. Priority should be given to agriculture because it is an industry on its own. We can’t give priority to housing over the institution,” Marapira said during a tour of the Institute of Agriculture Engineering.

“As a government the land which has been taken from this institution for the development of houses should be taken back so that the institution can carry on its duties.”

The Institute of Agriculture Engineering is a regional institution that trains farmers and trains agriculture employees on the current technology in farming.

Over the years illegal land barons have taken control of public land, owned either by the government or  local authority fleecing desperate land seekers.

Harare City Council has been facing a rise in illegal settlements which have emerged as land barons continue to parcel out land to home seekers.