TRENDS AND IMPACTS OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY AGRICULTURE

ZAMBIA
Trends and impacts of foreign investment in
developing country agriculture
Ordinarily, this should not be a problem. However,
in the case of Zambia (where the majority of its
people cannot afford to hold land on statutory
tenure), it poses a challenge and potential
source of tension. Most Zambians use land for
subsistence farming and the low productivity
that characterizes subsistence farming implies
that the subsistent farmer is only able to produce
enough for own consumption and is severely
cash constrained. Furthermore, since holding land
on statutory tenure requires payment of ground
rent to the state, which most poor subsistence
farmers cannot afford, conversion of huge tracts
of customary land to statutory tenure by the few
who can afford to do so practically deprives the
majority poor of a means of livelihood. When this
happens, tension can potentially build up.
Both Mazabuka District, where Kascol is
situated, and Mpongwe District, where the MDC
is located, are rural areas with over 90 percent
of the land being under customary tenure. No
land in Mpongwe District and, in all probability,
in Mazabuka District constitutes what was
formerly designated Crown land (now called
state land), implying that land that is currently
under leasehold tenure in these areas was
converted from customary tenure in customary
areas – which consists of reserve land and trust
land which the colonial government had reserved
for indigenous use. The terms ‘state land’ and
‘customary area’ are here being used in the
original sense, that is, state land means that
portion of land originally reserved for European
settlers and customary land is as that portion of
land originally reserved for indigenous people.
As discussed, land in customary areas is held
by chiefs on behalf of their subjects, though
ultimately this land is vested in the President for
and on behalf of the people of Zambia. Land
under customary tenure can be turned into
leasehold tenure by following procedures laid out
in the Lands Act. One important element of those
procedures is the consent of the chief himself,
although in practice chiefs do not always act in
the best interests of their subjects.
The role of chiefs is illustrated by the
acquisition of land by MDC. In the 1970s, land
currently held by the MDC was under the control
of chiefs, among them two chiefs designated
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in this chapter as Chief N and Chief L. It was a
forested area used for hunting and gathering of
wild products by villagers who lived near the area.
In 1976, the Government of Zambia, through the
Ministry of Agriculture, asked Chief N for land
which they could use for commercial agriculture.
Chief N referred the government officers to the
family who held the piece of land in which the
government was interested under customary
tenure. At the time, a member of this family was
area member of Parliament and he surrendered
the land to the Ministry of Agriculture which, in
fact, was facilitating land acquisition by the MDC
The procedure for the acquisition of customary
land is largely the same today (see Box 1).
Apart from titled land, land acquisition must
involve local chiefs who, in consultation with
their subjects, can either give or decline to give
land for investment purposes. In practice, the
government has taken measures to proactively
facilitate investors’ access to customary land.
Under the Investment Act of 1995, an investment
centre was established to facilitate investments in
both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The
centre was later amalgamated with various other
government bodies, and is now known as the
Zambia Development Agency (ZDA).
One of the roles of the Zambia Development
Agency is to facilitate land acquisitions by
investors, including through the creation of
‘farming blocks’. Chiefs have been encouraged
to give land to investors in the name of economic
development. Thousands of hectares have since
been given to investors by chiefs and have either
been converted to leasehold tenure or are in the
process of conversion.
In contrast to the land acquired by the
Mpongwe Development Company in the 1970s,
Kascol land was already under leasehold tenure
when it was acquired by the company. The land
was thus already earmarked for commercial
agricultural use and part of it was already
under agricultural use when it was acquired by
Kascol. Similarly, in addition to the “virgin” land
that MDC originally acquired in Nampamba,
subsequent expansions of company operations
involved acquiring titled land (Nchanga Farms)
from an existing commercial establishment. The
purchase of land which is already titled is largely