News on Land

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe’s dispossessed white farmers are trickling back to their land, this time as tenants to Black farmers, officials from the country’s governing and opposition parties claimed Monday.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, George Makombe, a top official of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party and liberation war fighter, said reports of Black farmers renting out the land they repossessed from white farmers two decades ago are true.

Zimbabwe plans to select a financial adviser by Christmas to help it raise US$3.5 billion to compensate white farmers, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube says.

Resolving the issue is seen as crucial to restoring Zimbabwe’s relations with Western nations and multilateral lenders, including the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund, which have imposed sanctions on the country’s leaders and frozen financial assistance.

Coming from a farming family, Danny Hizon, 69, proprietor of Danizon Farms, says, “Farming, you could say, is in my blood.” Growing up, he was surrounded by the rice and vegetable fields in a remote village in San Rafael, Bulacan. During his childhood, his grandfather tried to teach him how to farm, but all that he wanted then was to study. Recalling those days, he shares that he was not interested in farming, so he would feign sickness as an excuse. “Bowing down made me nauseous.

UNDP-supported project to benefit close to one million vulnerable people in a nation where climate change is threatening natural resources and fragile ecosystems  

Following the development, the community leaders have asked the company to vacate their land for the interest of peace, alleging that it was illegally acquired.

Indigenes of Illushi community in Esan South-East Local Government Area of Edo State have disagreed with a rice farming company, Skaff International Agro Farms Limited, over the acquisition of a vast portion of land for agricultural purpose.

THE weather outlook is favourable to Zimbabwe’s efforts to increase food production but economic challenges, aggravated by the coronavirus (COVID-19), could adversely affect yields.

The rainfall outlook for the November 2020-January 2021 period points to a higher probability of above-normal rainfall, which according to experts points to conducive conditions for the 2021 cereal crops.

However, the increased risk of excessive rainfall and flood damage is another lingering concern.

A group of civil society organisations called the Sierra Leone Land Alliance (SLLA) has released a report critical of the situation land ownership and acquisition in the country, with particular emphasis on the Western area.

Sri Lankan morality - 40- 50% of land deeds, 20% of the birth, marriage and death certificates are reportedly forgeries; Will the President address this thieving?

Main photo: A Keppel employee stands at a company shipyard in Singapore. The group sees floating data centers as the next step in diversifying beyond its shipbuilding roots.   © Reuters

With demand for data centers expected to skyrocket in an increasingly digital and interconnected world, Singapore's Keppel Corp. wants to change the game by building these notoriously energy-intensive facilities out at sea.

After years of blood, sweat and tears Badiri Vamaga, the largest clan group in Kirakira, NCD, is enjoying unprecedented optimism now that they are registered with the Department of Lands and Physical Planning as an Integrated Land Group (ILG).

They received their ILG certicate recently from the State clearing the way for business dealings involving their native customary land.

The national government’s upcoming plan to re-open the world-class Porgera mine in Enga Province will hit a snag because local landowners are claiming billions of kina in compensation.

Prime Minister James Marape and Minister for Mining Johnson Tuke recently announced that the government was taking Porgera mine seriously and will re-open it in due time.