The proposal was made at the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s 2027 pre-budget seminar, held in Bulawayo from 28 to 31 October.
Presenting the committee’s report, Chairperson Felix Maburutse said the proposed levy on underutilised large-scale farms would be US$50/ha (approximately R820/ha). It would increase for every successive year the land remained idle, with the revenue ring-fenced to support land development, irrigation, agricultural extension, and rural infrastructure.
Levy must have exemptions
“Exemptions should apply in cases of drought, genuine financial hardship, and other legitimate circumstances.
“Cost recovery should also be enhanced through more effective collection of surveying, registration and land administration fees, modernised digital payment systems, and service efficiency improvements,” Maburutse said.
Title deeds and compensation lagging
Maburutse said progress with issuing farm title deeds and compensating commercial farmers who had lost their properties during the country’s land reform programme was slow.
In his presentation, he provided an appraisal on the government’s targets for the 2026 budget year.
“Performance against selected targets includes 1 479 land title deeds issued against a target of 2 500; 2 696 farms surveyed [for title deed purposes] against a target of 2 500; and compensation payments of US$30,75 million [R507 million] against a target of US$896,64 million [R14,8 billion].
“Title deed issuance and compensation payments fell substantially below their targets, while farm surveying and land-unit approvals exceeded the targets,” he said.
Title deeds, not levies
Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly, economist Eddie Cross said the proposed levy was not a solution to the problem of underutilised farms.
He argued that the government should first issue title deeds to farmers who had received land during the land reform programme and compensate those who had lost their farms.
“Attempts to charge US$50/ha of underutilised land, which is a totally exorbitant sum of money, would be impossible. It simply would not be paid.
“And I don’t know what you would do if it wasn’t paid. Would you then repossess the land and reallocate it to someone who is going to be productive? That would be highly controversial and very, very difficult if not impossible politically,” Cross said.
He said providing secure tenure to those who had been allocated land under the land reform programme would solve the problem.
“And if this was done, then large- and small-scale farmers would receive titles to their land, which they could then subsequently borrow money against and use for redeveloping the farms and turning them into productive assets.”
According to Cross, farmers who wish to relinquish control of their farms could then sell them to those who could make them productive.
“I think that would have a better long-term impact on the industry than the route that the parliamentary committee wants to take,” he added.
Joint ventures to revive idle farms
The proposed levy comes amid existing efforts to revive underutilised farms.
In 2020, the government launched a joint venture (JV) initiative linking land reform beneficiaries who lacked resources or agricultural know-how to investors to revive farming operations on dormant land. The initiative aimed to develop farmers’ skills, increase mechanisation, and unlock finance to boost productivity.
Farmer Dan Burger, who is involved in 13 JV farms in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province, previously told Farmer’s Weekly there were several reasons why farmland across Zimbabwe had not been fully utilised. These included a lack of interest in farming, funding shortfalls, limited knowledge, or a combination of these issues.
