Zimbabwe's land and agricultural ministry is reportedly seeking $40m to compensate former white farmers, with the government promising to pay half of the amount.

According to NewsDay, speaking before the land portfolio committee last week, finance ministry director Peter Mudzamiri said they had received only $20m from government despite asking for $40m which would have enabled them to pay at least 50 former white farmers in the 2019 financial year.

Mudzamiri said they only got $20 million, but the $40 million that they bid for was just an estimate looking at how many farmers they are going to pay.

He said their focus here is that they are looking at paying 50 former farmers in 2019.

This came a few months after Lands and Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri said that Zimbabwean authorities wanted to address "injustices" committed during land reforms.

According to the state owned  Sunday Mail Shiri said their government is firmly committed to a process of the need for corrective measures to deal with the consequences of past injustices.

Starting in 2000, thousands of white Zimbabwean farmers were forced off their land by violent state-backed mobs or evicted in dubious legal judgement, supposedly to help black people marginalized under British colonial rule, reported AFP.

The farms, however, were often allocated to former president Robert Mugabe's allies and fell into ruin, leaving tens of thousands of rural laborer out of work and sending the economy into a tailspin as food production crashed, the report said.