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commercial farm definition, either absentee landlords or chiefs, although the cause remains an
empirical question. Large farms over 2,000 hectares do not lease-in appreciable quantities of land.
While this is not surprising, it is somewhat unexpected that they do not lease-out significant quantities
either.
Most intriguing is the drastic decline in land purchases and leases over time compared with
area, especially given the fact that land market controls appear to have eased considerably since the
1975 Conversion Act (see p. 16) was adopted. It is not a matter of simply underreporting, as total land
area is rising slightly. It is possible that high land transfer fees and MOL bottlenecks in the late 1980s
have begun to exact a toll on volume of transfers. The late 1970s and early 1980s was also a period
associated with "white flight" following independence, and the volume of transfers may have
experienced an upward surge as a result. Tenure insecurity may also be affecting transfers in certain
regions. Finally, the shrinkage in the large farm sectors over time and the expansion of smaller farms
may have simply moved purchases and rentals out of the sampling frame. None of these explanations,
either individually or collectively, is satisfactory. Field-level research will be required if these
questions are to be sorted out.
Given the apparent increase in small- and medium-scale commercial farms, one would have
expected: (1) a much more rapid growth in the number of small farms (0-79 hectares) than is
observed in annex 3.1; and (2) a greater number of land purchases and/or leasing by this group. While
land markets appear to very dynamic in certain peri-urban settings (e.g., Lusaka), this does not seem
to be the case in other areas. In fact, the wild swings from zero to thousands of hectares suggest
fundamental problems. First, the current data-collection methodology is underreporting land transfers
by existing farms. Second, the rapid expansion of new commercial farming units is not being captured
in survey designs; in fact, there is little indication of it in the data. Unfortunately, lack of data on land
transfers in the noncommercial sector limits insight into the sources of land for the lease and purchase
markets being reported, the expansion of farms that is ostensibly occurring, or the mechanisms used
to acquire land.
VI. Official land transfers
The MOL routinely maintains records for at least twelve categories of official land transfers
in Zambia:
► Assignment: the sale of registered and unregistered property usually involving a price. From
1975 to 1992, the government set values through the Government Valuation Department or
via other appraisals. Prices have been market determined since 1992.
► Assignment of subdivision (or simply subdivision): the transfer of a portion of a plot of land,
usually involving a price.
► Transfer: official change in ownership that occurs through inheritance or gift, usually without
a value ascribed.
► Deed of gift: transfer declared as a bequest or gift, usually with no value attached.
► Reserve lease: lease issued on Reserve Land.