THE AGRICULTURE AND LAND POLICY CONUNDRUM

Modern agriculture is built on 5 pillars viz. policy, science, research, technology and marketing. We are all aware that we inherited our present agricultural system from the colonial government and as far as I know, no major attempt has been made in the policy so as to make suitable for our needs.
The white settlers arrived in the early 20th Century and set up land agricultural farms and ranches after they dispossessed the African land owners of their land. Through an elaborate system by using the Provincial Administration, they rounded the local able people to work in their farms, almost for a pittance, so that they could afford to pay the compulsory Poll and Hut tax that had been introduced by the government. This confined the Africans to the patchy and and small parcels left to them to grow food crops. Meanwhile, the white farmers were supported through agriculture research, technology and credit schemes to build a vibrant agricultural industry that brought them fabulous wealth which their defendants live on up to date. As if to put the final nail on the coffin of African agriculture, the Swynnerton Plan of 1954, was introduced to reward the loyalists by introducing them to modern agriculture through further dispossession of the little African land by land consolidation and adjudication. After the little that they had had been taken away, the landless Africans were now left with no alternative but to lead a life of serfdom by working on the farms of the new African masters, at least to get food for their families.
The new independent government, with the Million Acre Scheme, that was started so as to buy out the departing white farmers, through a loan scheme supported by the British Government and World Bank, corruptly took away the parcels of land meant for the landless and gave them out to their families, relatives and confidants. This increased landlessness, poverty and hopelessness which may have been the precursor of land clashes and the recent post election clashes.
Everybody knows that agriculture does not thrive on the skys but on land. Therefore when the independence government extended the stay of the Delameres', George Williamsons', Del Monte's, Kakuzis, Unilivers', etc of this world and gave out large swathes of the remaining fertile land to the political class, basically for speculative reasons, we lost track of the land and agricultural policy. Therefore unless a new land and agricultural policy that puts premium on land utilization is put in place for the benefit of the citizens and the country, our agriculture is doomed to fail and it will not put us on track for for economic development. It will continue to benefit a few individuals and corporations at the expense of the citizens and the country.
I think the best option would be to put all the land mass at a nominal value of near zero by making sure all land reverts to the government as custodian and anyone working on it pays premium rent for occupation and utilization. This means that all the individuals and corporations hoarding large parcels of land underutilized and for speculative purposes will find their title deeds worthless unless they put it into productive use for the benefit of the country. This is the surest way of putting an end to land speculation, clashes, cases to ensure every piece of earth in our country is conserved and used productively for our collective benefit. Once a proper land and agriculture policy is laid out, all other components of modern agriculture such as investment in science, research, technology and marketing linkages will fall in place to enable us use land productively and produce enough resources for development and industrialization. Without such a policy, we shall forever remain a third world economy!