Govt Delivers 500 Title Deeds to A2 Farmers, Thousands More Coming

The Ministry of Lands says it has processed and delivered 500 physical title deeds to A2 farmers, with a further 1,000 currently at various stages of production. Addressing the media on Tuesday, Lands Ministry Permanent Secretary Obert Jiri said the 500 title deeds were processed and delivered in 2025, following the launch of the title deeds programme in December 2024. Jiri said the programme, which replaces the 99-year lease system, also benefits white commercial farmers who remained on their farms during the land reform programme. “We managed to do over 500 physical deeds that were delivered to the farmers. We have over a thousand title deeds that are now in process, at various stages of production. “We do have 13,000 A2 farmers who are ready for title deeds because their farms have been surveyed and of those that are surveyed, we have managed to connect these survey diagrams to the actual farmers,” said Jiri. He said progress in issuing title deeds to A1 farmers had been slower, despite the programme targeting about 280,000 beneficiaries. “We are now busy calling the A1 farmers to come in, making sure that they can get their title deeds as quickly as possible. Of course, the A1 farmers, over 208,000, have been slow, but we have managed to do over 400 title deeds.” Jiri said the current title deeds are issued to individuals and are linked to national identity numbers. He also revealed that the ministry has begun rolling out productivity booster kits, which combine title deeds with irrigation systems for A1 farmers. On payment models, Jiri said most of the 500 processed title deeds were paid for in cash. “We have the cash payments, which are the majority of those 500. “We also have the mortgage payments, which are done through the banks. And it is the mortgage payments which had a lot of teething problems because we needed a lot of legal instruments to ensure that the mortgage process is watertight. “We are now in cruise mode. We should expect more deeds to be rolled out in this quarter, and certainly in the second half, in the second quarter of 2026.” Jiri said the ministry had previously faced concentration risks but has since digitalised the system to allow farmers to initiate the title deeds process from anywhere in the country. “Anyone with a piece of land in Zimbabwe is eligible to get the title deeds. We will verify that it is the piece of land that we gave you. We verify your offer letter or your lease permit to ensure that the particular piece of land that you are on is yours. “So, whoever has a piece of land is eligible for title deeds, including those who have been on leases forever. You now need to convert those to title deeds. Those farmers who remained on their farms, the white commercial farmers, are now also eligible for title deeds. “Those BIPPA farms which are not occupied were now eligible for title deeds.” Even those shops that have been on leases forever, you can’t be leasing the piece of land forever. So, we have now gotten authorisation to say that anyone who has a piece of land and they that they have been leasing it can now get title deeds.” On bankability and transferability, Jiri said financial institutions have endorsed the new title deeds. He added, “When you look at the title deed itself, the banks are now happy. They looked at all the fissures of the title deed and the banks agreed that these title deeds are now bankable and they are also now transferable. And those two aspects are what define our title deeds.” He said the ministry is currently working with five banks.