Livelihoods after land reform in Zimbabwe: Understanding processes of rural differentiation

This paper explores the consequences of Zimbabwe's land reform for the dynamics of differentiation in Zimbabwe's countryside, reporting on the results from a 10-year study from Masvingo province. Based on a detailed analysis of livelihoods across 400 households at 16 sites, the paper offers a detailed typology of livelihood strategies, linked to a class-based analysis of emerging agrarian dynamics. The paper identifies a significant and successful ‘middle farmer’ group, reliant on ‘accumulation from below’ through petty commodity production, existing alongside other worker-peasants and the semi-peasantry, whose livelihoods remain vulnerable, with prospects for accumulation currently limited. In addition, there are others who are ‘accumulating from above’, through patronage and corruption. While small in number, this group has significant political and economic influence, and is embedded in powerful alliances that have fundamental impacts on the wider political–economic dynamics. To conclude, the economic, social and political implications of the emerging patterns of differentiation in Zimbabwe's countryside are discussed.ESR

New land, new livelihoods : agrarian change following land reform in Zimbabwe

Detailed account of research findings on the impact of land reform in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s land reform: challenging the myths

Most commentary on Zimbabwe’s land reform insists that agricultural production has almost totally collapsed, that food insecurity is rife, that rural economies are in precipitous decline, that political ‘cronies’ have taken over the land and that farm labour has all been displaced. This paper however argues that the story is not simply one of collapse and catastrophe; it is much more nuanced and complex, with successes as well as failures. The paper provides a summary of some of the key findings from a ten-year study in Masvingo province and the book Zimbabwe’s Land Reform: Myths and Realities. The paper documents the nature of the radical transformation of agrarian structure that has occurred both nationally and within the province, and the implications for agricultural production and livelihoods. A discussion of who got the land shows the diversity of new settlers, many of whom have invested substantially in their new farms. An emergent group ‘middle farmers’ is identified who are producing, investing and accumulating. This has important implications – both economically and politically – for the future, as the final section on policy challenges discusses.ESR

Securing land and resource rights in Africa: Pan-African perspectives

Across the African continent the land and resource rights of the rural poor are threatened by inappropriate policies and institutions (including global treaties); unequal social, political and economic relations; the actions of powerful vested interests (wealthy national or local elites, international aid organisations, multinational corporations); and the weakness of grassroots organisations. It is against this background that the Pan-African Programme on Land and Resource Rights (PAPLRR) Network’s initiative to analyse, understand and engage with these issues was conceptualised by four African centres of excellence that subsequently developed the programme in 2001. The unique contributions Africa can make are seldom taken seriously in international natural resource policymaking debates. One reason could be that the African voice on land and resource rights is perhaps not as strong in international forums as it should be. By coming together in forums such as PAPLRR, Africans are able to share their concerns and develop capacity to articulate their opinions and influence outcomes in the international arena. Defining an agenda for advocacy and strategic engagement with governments, and building links across divides between scholars, practitioners and advocacy groups, is an emphasis of PAPLRR into the future. A key focus of the programme is the role of land and resource rights in the struggle against poverty, exploitation and oppression as well as their contribution in solving real world problems of African people, not as academic objects to be studied, but as key components of the struggle

Socio-economic conflicts of the fast track resettlement programme

A paper highlighting the negative effects on the economy of the Zimbabwe government's "fast track land re-distribution programme."Fast track resettlement has contributed immensely to the events leading to the current poor state of the economy. Business and investor confidence has been severely eroded since the adoption of fast track. Perceptions and interpretations on the rule of law concept and the non-observance of property rights are at the centre of the effects of fast-track resettlement on the state of the economy. For example, according to the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), "— private property rights — form one of the central pillars of private enterprise development and also ensure security of tenure of investment in the eyes of both domestic and foreign investors. Further to this, the internal and external concerns about the observance of the rule of law as evidenced by non-observance of some court judgements have also been largely attributed to the state of the economy”. Agriculture has generally been one of the most badly affected sectors. Yet it is undisputed that agriculture is the mainstay of Zimbabwe’s economy and all other sectors are strongly linked to agriculture. For instance, manufacturing absorbs about 60% of agricultural output and 20% of mining input (ZNCC 2002). The disruption of agricultural production translate into a decline by the manufacturing sector, with the ZNNC estimating that industrial capacity has deteriorated to below 1970 levels

Delivering Land and Securing Rural Livelihoods: Post-Independence Land Reform and

assistance, training, capacity building, and research in support of Zimbabwe’s Lan

Evaluation of the Livestock Fairs Intervention Project in Zimbabwe

Oxfam GB implemented the Livestock Fairs project in Zimbabwe's Midlands and Masvingo provinces from 2004 to 2007. Targeting chronically poor people (unconditional voucher) and transitorily poor people (voucher in return for community works), the project enabled men and women to engage in public works programmes identified by their communities. This final evaluation assesses effectiveness (targeting, the ability of livestock fairs to address the livelihoods needs of poor people, and the extent to which community participation has been promoted) as well as impact (benefits to recipients and sellers of livestock, and the sustainability of livestock fairs)

Land reform and resettlement implementation in Zimbabwe : an overview of the programme against selected international experiences

37 p.Land Reform is a world-wide phenomenon aiming to achieve social, political and economic objectives of particular localities and contexts in which it is implemented. In spite of peculiar geographical, and socio-economic differences, global land reform contexts have historically been motivated by the twin-pronged goal of restructuring the land-based production systems, and achieving equity (social justice) in resource access and ownership. Introduced at Independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean land reform programme aims to redress historical social imbalances in land ownership and enable the majority indigenous black population to play its commensurate role in the country's agricultural production. Due to the socio-political motivation of the programme, the state has assumed a predominant and central role in the implementation process, from policy design, through land identification and acquisition to land development and distribution. Specific models and approaches have been adopted for allocating acquired land and enabling its utilization and management by beneficiarie