106
and Eastern and Western provinces, where 13 percent were for commercial properties. Industrial uses
were not terribly important, accounting for only 1-5 percent of leases everywhere except for Lusaka,
which had 9 percent of its leases issued for industrial properties.
The distribution of mortgages across land uses was more varied. Residential uses accounted
for roughly 40-55 percent of mortgages in Copperbelt, Eastern, Luapula, Lusaka, Northern, and
North-Western provinces. While 60 percent of the mortgages were placed on residential properties in
Western province, they constituted only 15-16 percent of those in Southern and Central provinces.
Agricultural properties accounted for 70 percent in Central province and 39 percent in Southern
province. In the latter, 30 percent of the mortgages were also placed on properties categorized as
"other." Luapula, Lusaka, and Northern provinces also had roughly one quarter of their mortgages
placed on agricultural lands. All provinces except for the Eastern region (5 percent) had one quarter
of the mortgages placed on commercial properties. Industrial uses received another 10-16 percent of
the mortgages.
Overall, the data indicate that land transfers, whether assignments, subdivisions, or lease
issuances, are generally for residential and commercial properties. Agriculture makes up over 45
percent only in Central province. Mortgages for agricultural uses are important (8.0 percent to 39.4
percent, excluding Eastern and Central provinces), but residential and commercial properties still
predominate. Arguments raised in chapter 1 that title is needed to obtain credit are not inconsistent
with these data, but the use data suggest that residential and commercial, rather than agricultural uses,
are driving demand.
VIII. Size distribution of leases
Table 3.14 lists the number of leases issued by size category totaled over the period 1990-93.
The vast majority (81.9 percent) of state leases are issued to farms less than 6 hectares in size. This
accords with the findings above but shrinks the size from the range 0-79 to the more precise 0-6
hectares. This suggests the significance of peri-urban activity and the possible filling-in of pockets of
unregistered land in areas largely registered. Due to the dominance of state leases over reserve leases
and rights of occupancy, 78 percent of all leases are issued for properties less than 6 hectares in size.
The 100-250 hectare size is more important for reserve leases and rights of occupancy, with
29.6 percent of the former and 48.1 percent of the latter. Most of the leases in this category were
issued for properties between 50-500 hectares in size, with a surprisingly large number (25.5 percent
of reserve leases and 16.5 percent of rights of occupancy) issued in excess of the 250 hectares ceiling
set by the MOL to avoid land concentration.8 .'
Data on the percentage of leases for each farm size by province are reported in table 3.15.
Only four provinces garnered more than 10 percent of the leases for any given farm size. The medium
and large farm leases seem to have been issued largely in the main commercial farming regions.
The minister has discretionary powers to issue leases for areas in excess of this amount, particularly for certain uses
(e.g., ranching) where a larger size makes economic sense.