HARARE, Dec 17 (AFP) - The Zimbabwe government has introduced new regulations that allow it to compulsorily acquire any idle movable farming equipment, the farmers union and the state-run media said Wednesday.
The special measures allow the government to "identify, value and compulsorily acquire any farming equipment and material currently not in use for agricultural purposes", the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said.
Under the new regulations, it will be an offence for an owner of any farming equipment to wilfully demolish, damage, alter or dispose of any unutilised farm equipment without authorisation from the minister of lands and agriculture.
The government has previously accused white farmers who lost their land under its controversial land reforms of trying to frustrate and sabotage its actions by exporting, locking away or destroying farming equipment.
In 2000 the government embarked on an exercise to acquire millions of hectares (acres) of land from whites and redistribute it to blacks.
A minority group of about 4,500 whites farmers used to own a third of the country's land -- 70 percent of prime farmland -- before the government launched a "fast-track" land reform programme in February 2000.
A combination of factors, including poor planning, lack of resources, HIV/AIDS and drought have led to a huge slump in Zimbabwe's agricultural production.
But government officials blame spiteful white farmers of trying to "derail" the land reform scheme.
Equipment owners will be given a minimum of seven days notice of the government's intention to acquire their idle equipment and payment will be in batches with the first 25 percent paid out within 30 days of acquisition.
The government will pay the balance over five years for equipment and 12 months for materials, according to the CFU.
The government has refused to pay for the land it took away from white farmers saying it would only pay for improvements because that land was stolen from Zimbabweans by colonial settlers.
Some farmers who have been offered compensation for the improvements on their former properties have turned down the money, contesting the sums offered.
Early this month the government said it planned to amend the land law to allow it to continue taking more land from whites and take it more easily.
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