Zimbabwe has paid compensation for about three percent of the 6500 white-owned farms it has seized under President Robert Mugabe's land reforms, a report by government and donors said Wednesday.

"Only 203 farms out of the gazetted 6571 farms have to date been compensated," said the report prepared for a conference bringing together government, the World Bank, donors and farm groups.

The conference is seeking ways to revive Zimbabwe's once-thriving agricultural sector, which has been decimated since the land reforms began nearly a decade ago.

The report said said the land reforms have drastically reduced the area of land under cultivation by 50 000 hectares (123 500 acres), while lands under irrigation also declined more than nine percent to 139 500 hectares.

Mugabe launched the land reforms in 2000, with at least 4000 white farmers forcibly removed from their properties. He has defended the programme as meant to correct colonial-era imbalances.

Black farmers resettled on the land have received little government support, while banks have been unwilling to offer them loans without legal guarantees on ownership of the land.

Production of both food and cash crops like tobacco have plunged, leaving millions of people dependent on international food aid.