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repossessed 351 leases. Without knowing the total number of leases issued nationwide, it is difficult
to evaluate the magnitude of these transfers, but, given the evidence presented in the earlier section,
the volume of assignments and subdivisions would seem very low.'
Much of the activity in assignments, transfers, and subdivisions was in peri-urban areas. While
Copperbelt (32 percent) and Lusaka (52 percent) had the majority of assignments, the main farming
regions of Central (47 percent) and Southern (26 percent) had the majority of the area transferred.
With regard to subdivisions, Lusaka had 86.0 percent of the number but only 21 percent of the area.
It also had 70 percent of the transfers but only 17 percent of their area.
State leases and subleases also seemed to be issued to small farms and properties in peri-urban
areas with the majority occurring in the Lusaka, Copperbelt, and Northern regions while Central and
Southern regions again dominate in area. Lusaka has 71 percent and Copperbelt 17 percent of the
subleases implying mainly the residential and commercial character of leases in these regions
(reviewed shortly). Reserve leases and rights of occupancy seem, however, to have been issued for
agricultural properties in Central, Copperbelt, and Lusaka. The greatest number of reentries and
surrenders appears to be occurring in the more urban and residential areas of Lusaka (58.7 percent
of reentries, 45.3 percent of surrenders), Copperbelt (16.2 percent, 14.9 percent), and Central (12.2
percent, 10.4 percent) provinces, roughly in accord with the regional distribution of state leases, but
the high percentage for Lusaka suggests the possibility of greater enforcement of land use conditions
due no doubt to the close proximity of the region to government and the central registry.
Lusaka had 40 percent of the number of mortgages placed on leases but only 7 percent of the
area under mortgages, which clearly indicates the majority of these loans are going for small, peri-
urban properties. The Central (14 percent), Southern (12 percent), and Copperbelt (26 percent) regions
seemed to have received some loans for larger agricultural properties with 33 percent, 28 percent, and
27 percent of the area respectively. Average sizes reported in table 3.12 are particularly large in the
Central region with 1,396.1 hectares for deeds of guarantee and 588.4 hectares for mortgages, the
largest of any region. Southern province also reported a 568.3 hectare average size for mortgages
although no deeds of guarantee were issued there during the reporting period. The low numbers of
such issuances vis-a-vis mortgages bears this out. Nonetheless, the larger farms in these two provinces
seem to be able to access formal channels of credit more easily than smaller farms.
These conclusions about the type and distribution of transfers are borne out by table 3.12,
which reports the regional disaggregation of land values and sizes transferred in the commercial
sector. The average size of all transactions in Lusaka was uniformly small with the exception of
reserve leases (390.2 hectares) and rights of occupancy (622.9 hectares). In contrast, the areas
transferred for the Central and Southern regions were substantial ranging from 165 to 1,396 hectares
and 42 to 587 hectares respectively. These numbers are particularly interesting for the deed of gift and
transfer categories with very large parcels (roughly 200 to 1,000 hectares) being offered for no price.
Nonetheless, as reported in annex 3.4 on the figures for transfers from 1990-93, the average size of
all four categories of transfers ranged from only 16-93 hectares.
7 The issue of rent payment aside, the volume of reentries appears quite high. However, considering the low payment
rates on lease, the MOL through enforcement of lease rents could justify a much higher rate.