Rural land management and valuation in Zimbabwe: Challenges and Prospects

Rural land value is variegated, spanning from spiritual to economic value. Despite a diverse value perception of land by differing people, the aspect of land management remains constant. Effective rural land management continues to be a necessary and innovative stimulant of land value in the face of increasing population and competing land uses. Using document analysis, this article seeks to unravel Zimbabwe’s rural land management system and its impact on land value as an economic concept. It is the argument of this paper that the management of rural land is sporadic, asymmetrical, ineffective and inefficient to the detriment of its economic capabilities. Its valuation framework is unstructured and almost undefined. This article also shows that Zimbabwean rural land management and valuation policies have deprived the land of its potential. It further recommends a rural land management model consolidating scattered land laws and adopting international best practice recommendations.