President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is offering Zimbabwean farmers who shifted to Zambia at the height of the controversial land reform programme, incentives to return.

Zambia’s online newspaper Watchdog reports the drive to get the farmers to relocate back to Zimbabwe is being carried out through special emissaries, while a high profile bid will be made at the upcoming 5th Agritech Expo in Zambia.

The Agritech Expo is one of Africa’s largest business-to-business agricultural exhibits. It runs from 12 to 14 April 2018 in Chisamba, Central Province.

Speculation about Mnangagwa’s bid to woo back commercial farmers intensified last Friday when Zimbabwe’s Vice President General Constantino Chiwenga delivered a special message to Zambian President Edgar Lungu. The 2 held private talks before the latter departed for home.

Mnangagwa pledged to reverse the declining fortunes of the nation’s agricultural sector following the forceful seizure of thousands of white-owned farms carried out by his predecessor. Some of the farmers that were kicked off their properties during the agrarian reforms set up in neighbouring countries like Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.

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