23
priority for land concessions to returning Portuguese colonial interests. 50 Private interests
interviewed in Maputo acknowledged that RENAMO was selling off hunting concessions and
local smallholders were being told to vacate their lands. This issue clearly requires further
investigation.
There is no agency or department within government that is tracking or recording all the
concessions being made by the ministries or the provinces. Although DINAGECA is supposed
to record land titles and registration, there is in fact no department within the Ministry of
Agriculture that is tracking all of the different concessions being granted by that single
ministry (e.g., agricultural, grazing, hunting, and forestry). It is also clear that the central
government is largely unaware of the concessions that are being granted at the provincial
level. The data we have gathered over the last year are compiled from several sources.
Annual and cumulative numbers for concessions granted by the Ministry of Agriculture
from 1986 to 1993, as listed in the Boletim da Republica, are illustrated in graph 1,
"Agricultural land concessions: Reported by the Ministry of Agriculture." Since 1986 agricul-
tural land grants of more than 68,000 hectares have been recorded in the Boletim, more than
70 percent occurring since 1990. These are figures for land concessions that have completed
the formal registration process with DINAGECA and the Ministry of Agriculture and have
been cataloged by the Boletim da Republica. The fact that these land transactions have been
officially recorded does not indicate whether the land was acquired legally or extralegally.
As noted above, there are many more concessions in the process of formal registration that
have yet to appear in the Boletim da Republica because the DINAGECA registration process
is exceedingly slows'
Agricultural concessions by province for the period 1986 to May 1993, as recorded in the
Boletim, are illustrated in graph 2, "Agricultural land concessions by province: Reported by
the Ministry of Agriculture." Although this graph shows only the data available in the Boletim
(68,000 hectares), it is still useful because it reflects the relationship among the provinces
with regard to formal registration. It may also indicate a new contentious relationship between
the provinces and the central government with regard to land concessions.
Government officials in different provinces claimed that the provincial departments of
DINAGECA had to pay a fee for each concession in order to complete the official registration
process in Maputo and have it recorded in the Boletim. 52 However, DINAGECA officials
in Maputo claimed that provincial governments were not charged a processing fee. 53 It is
also possible that the governments in some provinces, such as Manica and Nampula, are
50. At a meeting of the Mozambican Working Group (sponsored by USAID, ODC, and the Center for
Strategic and International Studies) in Washington, D.C., on 30 March 1994, representatives for RENAMO
would not deny that the organization is granting land concessions in areas where it maintains political control.
51. Farmers and officials have reported that the registration process can take anywhere from two months
to two years. See also Boucher et al. (1993); Boucher et al. (1994); and Roth et al. (1994).
52. For example, Chief, Provincial Office of DINAGECA, Nampula Province, personal communication,
August 1993.
53. Virgilio Ferrao, DINAGECA, Maputo, personal communication, September 1993.