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dwellings) might best be financed as long-term credit to farmers, who themselves would hire labor
as needed, and supervise the job. They would supply part of the labor themselves, as well as provide
more effective supervision and quality control than normally occurs with government visits.
4. Other uses of the LDF
All of the previous ideas as to uses of the LDF suppose that its purpose is to develop land.
Plot demarcation, roads and bridges, dams, wells and boreholes, dip tank construction, land levelling,
conservation works, and fencing were all proposed. However, in interviews, some Zambians have
mentioned other possible uses of this money, as a revolving fund of loans oriented largely to
increasing production by specific households or groups:
► production loans to women, redundant state or parastatal employees, and other disadvantaged
persons, to enable them to become productive emerging farmers and gradually build up their
own working capital;
► land purchase loans to the disadvantaged, enabling them to purchase leasehold interests from
other persons who are unable to put their leased land to productive use; or
► loans to enable emerging cooperatives or farm supply companies to go into the business of
supplying farming inputs and perhaps marketing production as well.
The previous set of ideas on using the LDF for loans would all be dedicated to increasing
production. Still other possible uses mentioned would have social elements:
► finance the building and operating costs of community facilities, clinics, and schools to benefit
small farmers in densely populated but poorly serviced rural areas;
► compensate families who lose grazing, gathering, or similar rights over customary land when
it is converted into leaseholds in the state sector;
► grants or low-cost investment loans to landless rural families in overpopulated areas, to help
them move to areas with available land; or
► loans to councils to help them service town plots, reducing the relative attraction of moving
to shantytowns in Lusaka or the Copperbelt.
5. Donor assistance
With so many ideas floating around as to how to use the higher ground rents, consent fees,
and other resources obtained by charging rents or fees closer to market values, it is no wonder that
the land conference did not yield a consensus on which uses should have priority, nor even on how
this would be decided. One final hope expressed by participants was that donor organizations might
contribute to a well-managed LDF. These organizations generally favor charging market rents and
significant taxes (rates); they might well offer matching contributions to the fund once the government
actually implements such policies.
B. Legal reforms: The draft law
The draft Land Titles Act proposes in SeC. 20 to establish a land development fund. The draft
proposes sources for its funding, a structure for policymaking for the fund, and its objectives.
However, the draft is silent on many aspects that will be critical if the LDF is to be successful.