104
was roughly 9:1. In 1991, the equivalent ratios in terms of area were 13:1 and 5:1. As stated earlier
with respect to rates of utilization, it seems remarkable that the government and donors are pushing
to expand the number of leaseholds at the same time that reentries are climbing.
D. Mortgages and the credit market
According to annex 3.7, mortgages showed more change than the other official transfers: 905
were issued in 1990, 825 in 1991, and 784 in 1992. The major change in area occurred between 1990
and 1991 when the area shrunk to half its previous size, from 364,041 to 145,827 hectares. Data not
reported here from the MOL indicate that 71 percent of the mortgages (numbers) involved parcels of
less than 6 hectares. Unfortunately records are not computerized on the value of mortgages, but
conceivably these figure would be misleading as large farms, while having few mortgages, could
capture a large share of the total volume of credit as indicated in chapter 1. Given the greater tenure
security associated with 99-year leases compared with 14-year leases, one would expect a strong
association between mortgages and lease duration. Of a total of 1,285 mortgages over the period 1
January 1990 to 31 July 1993 on 14-year and 99-year leases, the vast majority of the leases were
recorded on State Land (95.1 percent), followed by rights of occupancy on Trust Land (3.3 percent),
and reserve leases (1.6 percent). With regard to duration of leases, the majority are issued for 99-years
(84.0 percent) followed by 14-year leases (16.0 percent). Care should be taken in interpreting these
numbers as 99-year leases tend to be highly correlated with state leases which tend to be located on
better lands with superior access to input and credit markets. Leaseholders also tend to be better
established with perhaps superior ability to overcome information and transaction costs associated with
taking out a mortgage. These factors would tend to skew mortgages toward state leases, most of which
are 99 years.
VII. Land use
The land use data contained in table 3.13 bear out earlier conclusions about the types of uses
dominating various transfers. For all types of transactions, residential uses overshadow other uses
everywhere but the major farming regions of Central and Southern provinces. The majority of official
transfers (assignments, subdivisions, and transfers) in 1990-93 were for residential uses with exception
of Central province. In Copperbelt province, they accounted for 62 percent, Luapula 67 percent,
North-Western 85 percent, Western 52 percent, Lusaka 50 percent, Eastern 42 percent, Northern 39
percent, and Southern 33 percent. Commercial uses accounted for another 20-30 percent in
Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Southern, and Western provinces. Agriculture was the major use only
in Central province at 60 percent, but did account for roughly 30 percent in Eastern, Northern,
Southern, and Lusaka provinces. Industry was less important, with only 1-5 percent of transfers
occurring in that land use (with the exception of Northern province, where 18 percent of the transfers
involved industrial properties).
Residential uses figured importantly in lease issuances during this period in all the provinces
but particularly North-Western, Luapula, Western, and Eastern areas, with approximately 60-75
percent of their lease issuances. Agricultural uses accounted for 30-35 percent of lease issuances in
Copperbelt, Lusaka, Northern, and Southern provinces and 46 percent in Central province. In
Southern province, 20 percent of the leases were issued for properties classified as "other." There is
no indication as to what might be included in this category. Commercial uses accounted for 7-10
percent of all leases except for Luapula, where 17 percent of leases were for commercial properties,