Impact of land use and tenure systems on sustainable use of resources in Zimbabwe

This paper reviews the impact of land use and tenure systems in the Communal Area Sector (CAS) with communal tenure and in the Large Scale Commercial Sector (LSCS), the freehold sector. The LSCS enterprise production relationship is a function of large farm size, land suitability and maximum profit margins but with under-utilisation of up to 80% of potential arable land. The LSCS sector is supported by powerful farmer institutions and deemed ecologically sustainable, but due to skewed land distribution, LSCS is considered politically unsustainable. The CAS exhibits over-utilisation, with population densities three times the estimated potential carrying capacity. The land tenure, land use practices and land administration systems are tolerant of continuous population absorption leading to high land use pressure, degradation and poverty, and rendering CAS ecologically unsustainable.