By Mary Makhiringa
Balaka District Council, with financial assistance from the World Bank through the Agriculture Commercialisation AGCOM project, has helped lease over 8,000 pieces of land as part of addressing customary land ownership disputes.
The project, which has been running in the area of Traditional Authorities (TAs) Matola and Kapalamula, has helped reduce land disputes and improper selling of customary land in the area.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Balaka District Land Registrar Benson Ramsy Pogona, said Balaka has, for a long time, been facing serious land wrangles especially boundary issues.
He said the coming of the program will help end the problem.
“The initiative, which is free of charge, targets land owners from TAs Kapalamula and Matola. All customary land owners in the aforementioned areas will get an official Customary Estate Certificate once registered,” he said.
According to Pogona, once land has been leased, selling of land will no longer be allowed but land owners will only lease their land to others at a specified time that the two parties will agree.
He, therefore, urged all that were missed in the process last year to come forward from February 2 to 13 to register their land as the Council will revealing maps to land owners.
Group Village Head Matola commended the Council for the exercise saying many land owners in her area have welcomed the development.
The program, which started in September 2025 focused on TAs Kapalamula and Matola as a pilot phase.
