Tagwirei Challenges Banks to Turn Land Title Into Wealth

Zimbabwe’s land reform will only reach its full economic potential when secure tenure is translated into access to capital, investment and higher productivity, Land Tenure Implementation Committee (LTIC) Chairman Dr Kudakwashe Tagwirei has said.

Addressing a high-level stakeholder breakfast meeting in Harare on Thursday, Dr Tagwirei said the issuance of title deeds should not be viewed merely as an administrative exercise, but as the next stage in transforming land into a productive economic asset.

“To our banks and insurers, let me speak directly: treat this reform as an opportunity, not a risk-management exercise. The financing architecture is in place; we have five designated banks which carry the mortgage programme equally.

“Farmers acquire land on a 60 to 70 percent baseline discount granted by His Excellency the President, with mortgages of up to 20 years at 7.5 percent per annum. Their repayments capitalise a US$16.8 billion development fund, managed by the Ministry of Finance through a dedicated escrow account and recycled into compensation, debt reduction, infrastructure, agricultural lending and reserves.” he said

Dr Tagwirei said the land tenure programme would directly benefit 352 000 citizens, and the US$16.8 billion Development Fund would finance developmental projects across Zimbabwe.

“That is His Excellency’s vision of leaving no one behind, made bankable. Now consider the credit fundamentals,” he said.

The LTIC Chair said the deeds being issued should must open the door to fit-for-purpose products, seasonal finance, asset finance and insurance.

The LTIC was established to coordinate implementation of Government’s land-tenure reforms, which seek to provide beneficiaries of the Land Reform Programme with bankable, registrable and transferable tenure documents.

Dr Tagwirei said as at August 24, 2026 a total of 27 045 farms had been surveyed and 1417 title deeds had been registered with US$110.4 million in value already unlocked.

Dr Tagwirei said the ultimate measure of success would not be the number of deeds issued, but whether secure tenure translated into economic empowerment.

“The economic chain we must build is simple: Secure tenure makes land bankable; bankable land attracts investment; investment raises productivity; and productivity delivers household and national prosperity.

“Every link in that chain rests on the first. A title deed is therefore more than a legal document. It is an economic instrument, certainty for long-horizon investment decisions, collateral that opens the door to financial institutions, orderly, recorded transactions and inheritance.

“Integrating land into the formal economy and the national balance sheet will transform the agricultural space. But let us be equally clear: a deed alone does not create wealth. Value is created in the ecosystem built around secure tenure – finance, markets, infrastructure, inputs, technology and technical support. Success is measured not by deeds issued, but by security translated into economic empowerment.”