In pursuit of its constitutional mandate as provided in section 152(2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Parliamentary Legal Committee (herein referred to as “the Committee) considered the Agricultural Marketing Authority (Command Agriculture Scheme for Domestic Crop, Livestock and Fisheries Production) Regulations, 2018.  After deliberations the Committee unanimously resolved that an adverse report be issued in respect of the Statutory Instrument, due to the following reasons.

The Statutory Instrument creates a statutory hypothec in favour of the government to secure the monetary value of inputs supplied, but not consumed in accordance with a Scheme contract. The hypothec is over:

1. All agricultural inputs supplied to contract farmers;
2. All contract produce produced by contract farmers;
3. All identifiable proceeds from the sale or misappropriation of agricultural inputs, including cash; and
4. Any movable chattel on the land or premises of the contract farmer in the absence of the inputs, produce or proceeds specified in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) to the extent that those hypothecated items do not cover the monetary value of inputs supplied but not consumed in accordance with a Scheme contract.