Chapter 3:
Agrarian Structure, Land Markets, and Property Transfers
by
Michael Roth, Paula Despins, and Peter Kangwa'
I. Introduction
This chapter assembles and analyzes official time series information on agrarian structure,
official property transfers, and issuances of leaseholds in State, Reserve, and Trust Lands. Unofficial
data on property transfers and an analysis of land valuation issues are treated in chapter 4. Data are
presented on the number and size of reported property transfers and land prices paid. Changes in
agrarian structure are evaluated to assess net growth in the number and area of farming units by land
tenure category, trends in farm size, and growth in demand for leasehold property. The analysis shows
that the number and area of farming units varies widely over time, in part due to changing trends in
population settlement and agricultural expansion but also due to unexplainable swings in the data. A
high demand for leaseholds is apparent, but most of the demand is originating from properties in the
urban and peri-urban areas under residential and commercial uses. Land as collateral is increasing
credit use by the largest farms, but most credit is being funneled to urban and peri-urban properties
for mainly nonagricultural uses. The analysis further suggests that capacity limits may be constraining
the expansion in leasehold issuances. The fact that leasehold activity has plateaued at 2,000 issuances
annually over a reasonably long period of time indicates a sustainable level of demand for registry
services but also possible constraints that warrant investment in surveying and registration capacity.
II. Agrarian structure
A. Land base
Zambia possesses an abundance of natural resources. Of its 75,261,200 hectares nationwide,
18.4 percent of the land area is located in game management areas (GMAs), 8.8 percent in state forest
reserves, 8.7 percent in national parks, and 1.2 percent in lakes (table 3.1). GMAs along with the
other natural resource categories (excluding lakes) are broadly distributed nationwide, but 23.3 percent
can be found in Eastern province, another 21.4 percent in North-Western province, and 15.6 percent
in Central province. The predominant share of state forest lands are located in North-Western (36.4
percent), Northern (14.4 percent), and Eastern (13.2 percent) provinces, while national park land is
concentrated in Northern province (27.0 percent), followed by Central (16.5 percent), Southern (14.7
percent), and Western (13.7 percent) provinces.
Data series on landownership by farms are presented in the second half of table 3.1 for two
categories of farms: (1) MAFF forecast survey data of arable land which, at least in principle, are
' Michael Roth and Paula Despins are, respectively, associate research scientist and graduate research assistant with the
Land Tenure Center and Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Peter Kangwa is senior
analyst, Lands Department, with the Ministry of Lands, Lusaka.