76
Annex 2.1: Guidelines for determining the size of landholding for farming purposes
Chapter 1. The Formula and Explanation set out below are designed to help District Councils and their
Staffs, District Agricultural Officers, and District Executive Secretaries determine the size of
undemarcated land granted to a prospective farmer. Before this formula can be implemented
the following data must be available:
2. 1. Land capability, at semi-detailed level
2. Location of farm (peri-urban or rural)
3. Relative pressure on the land
4. Pattern of settlement in the adjacent area to the proposed farm (commercial,
traditional, emergent agriculture, peri-urban, urban)
5. Pattern of past urban drift and consequential past population density
6. Traditional land use patterns — provincial strategy
7. Recommended future land use pattern — provincial strategy
8. Proximity to economic centers and markets
9. Proximity to power
10. State of roads plus their development.
3. 1. The present income of the prospective farmer
2. The size and education of his family and whether they will be part of the farming unit
or independent
3. Capital available for immediate investment
4. Plant and equipment available to support the proposed program
5. Proposed source and extent of funding
6. General ability of the prospective farmer to succeed. By combining the above data we
are able to determine the size of farm within any given planning area suitable for a
prospective farmer.
This pre-supposes that the province has already had a development strategy plan drawn up.
(This has yet to be done for Southern province.) It is the basic ingredient of any coherent
development plan. Thus the following principles are applied for guiding prospective farmers
to the right location and right size farm for themselves:
4. 1. Is the farmer self-sufficient? Can he survive in the bush by himself? If not, he must
be in an area where he can receive support services.
2. Does he require:
a. Ranching operation
b. Mixed fanning
c. Dairy
d. Horticulture
e. Small stock only.
These items are graded in the degree of return per hectare of land, i.e., land use intensity.
Therefore, a small stock specialist can expect more than K1,000.00 per hectare of land if
properly used. A ranching operation can only expect a return of K200 per hectare on
intensively grazed improved pastures properly managed.
(This scheme takes no amount of traditional methods as these are not economic.)
5. Therefore, the process works as follows:
The income that a prospective farmer can reasonably expect is calculated from his past
performance in whatever sector he comes from and his income for the past five years before
he applied for a farm. His future expectations of income are based upon what his previous