Zimbabwe has begun repossessing idle land from black farmers who benefitted from controversial land reforms two decades ago, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said Wednesday.
People whose farmland is lying unused and those who own multiple farms will lose land, he said.
The land will be given to aspiring farmers from a waiting list left from earlier rounds of land reform, he said.
Masuka's deputy, Vangelis Haritatos, told AFP that government had also allowed former white commercial farmers to return to some farms through joint ventures.
"We don't have a set criterion as government," he said. "What we want is fairness for everyone."
"We need to take our country to self-sufficiency, in food and nutrition," Haritatos said.
Former president Robert Mugabe launched land reforms in 2000, forcibly removing white farmers and giving their land to blacks.
The scheme was supposed to redress legacies of British colonialism but in practise, many of Mugabe's close allies ended up with multiple farms.
But many new farmers had little knowledge, training or support, and vast swathes of land became derelict.
People whose farmland is lying unused and those who own multiple farms will lose land, he said.
The land will be given to aspiring farmers from a waiting list left from earlier rounds of land reform, he said.
Masuka's deputy, Vangelis Haritatos, told AFP that government had also allowed former white commercial farmers to return to some farms through joint ventures.
"We don't have a set criterion as government," he said. "What we want is fairness for everyone."
"We need to take our country to self-sufficiency, in food and nutrition," Haritatos said.
Former president Robert Mugabe launched land reforms in 2000, forcibly removing white farmers and giving their land to blacks.
The scheme was supposed to redress legacies of British colonialism but in practise, many of Mugabe's close allies ended up with multiple farms.
But many new farmers had little knowledge, training or support, and vast swathes of land became derelict.