Medium-Scale Commercial Farms in Africa: the Experience of the ‘Native Purchase Areas’ in Zimbabwe

Partout en Afrique, le nombre d'exploitations agricoles de taille moyenne a augmenté, y compris au Zimbabwe après la réforme agraire de 2000. Ces exploitations ont-elles des chances de stimuler de nouvelles formes de commercialisation agricole ? Dans cet article, les auteurs cherchent à tirer les enseignements du passé en examinant l'expérience des « native purchase areas » [zones réservées à l'accession à la propriété des indigènes] qui furent créées à partir des années 1930 au Zimbabwe. À travers une étude historique détaillée de la région de Mushagashe dans la province de Masvingo, l'article explore les vicissitudes des exploitations agricoles au fil du temps. Ces données historiques sont complétées par une étude portant sur vingt-six exploitations choisies de façon aléatoire qui examine les schémas de production ainsi que la propriété et l'accumulation d'actifs. Des entretiens approfondis explorent des récits de vie et les changements d'organisation sociale qui ont influencé le changement agraire. Quatre grands types d'exploitations sont identifiés, y compris les exploitations commercialisées, projetisées, villagisées, et conservées ou abandonnées. Ces catégories ne sont cependant pas statiques et l'article souligne la non-linéarité des schémas d’évolution. Suivant Sara Berry, les auteurs montrent la diversité et le caractère imprévisible des trajectoires de commercialisation influencés par des conjonctures imbriquées de dynamique sociale, de changements générationnels et de conditions politico-économiques. Les résultats de commercialisation dépendent de l'intersection de dynamiques relationnelles et de facteurs économiques et politiques plus structurels. Les poussées de commercialisation sur ces exploitations sont subordonnées à l'accès à l'emploi par les chefs d'exploitation, à la main-d’œuvre (salariée, squatteurs et progéniture) et peut-être surtout aux moyens financiers pour investir. Il convient donc de qualifier la vision d'orientation, exagérément vantée, d'un nouveau secteur agricole commercial à moyenne échelle émergent en Afrique, et de reconnaître la divergence de résultats.Across Africa there has been a growth in medium-sized farms, including in Zimbabwe following the land reform of 2000. What are the prospects of such farms driving new forms of agricultural commercialization? In this article we seek to learn lessons from the past by examining the experience of ‘native purchase areas’, which were established from the 1930s in Zimbabwe. Through a detailed historical study of Mushagashe small-scale commercial farming area in Masvingo Province, the article explores the changing fortunes of farms over time. Historical information is complemented by a survey of twenty-six randomly selected farms, examining patterns of production, asset ownership and accumulation. In-depth interviews explore life histories and changes in social arrangements that have influenced agrarian change. Four broad farm types are identified, including those that are commercialized, projectized, villagized, and held or abandoned. These categories are not static, however, and the article emphasizes non-linear patterns of change. Following Sara Berry, we show how pathways of commercialization are diverse and unpredictable, influenced by interlocking conjunctures of social dynamics, generational changes and political-economic conditions. Commercialization outcomes are dependent on the intersection of relational dynamics and more structural, political economy factors. Bursts of commercialization on these farms are contingent on access to employment by farm owners, labour (hired, squatters and offspring) and, perhaps above all, money to invest. The much-hyped policy vision of a new medium-scale commercial farm sector emerging in Africa therefore must be qualified, and divergent outcomes recognized.Partout en Afrique, le nombre d'exploitations agricoles de taille moyenne a augmenté, y compris au Zimbabwe après la réforme agraire de 2000. Ces exploitations ont-elles des chances de stimuler de nouvelles formes de commercialisation agricole ? Dans cet article, les auteurs cherchent à tirer les enseignements du passé en examinant l'expérience des « native purchase areas » [zones réservées à l'accession à la propriété des indigènes] qui furent créées à partir des années 1930 au Zimbabwe. À travers une étude historique détaillée de la région de Mushagashe dans la province de Masvingo, l'article explore les vicissitudes des exploitations agricoles au fil du temps. Ces données historiques sont complétées par une étude portant sur vingt-six exploitations choisies de façon aléatoire qui examine les schémas de production ainsi que la propriété et l'accumulation d'actifs. Des entretiens approfondis explorent des récits de vie et les changements d'organisation sociale qui ont influencé le changement agraire. Quatre grands types d'exploitations sont identifiés, y compris les exploitations commercialisées, projetisées, villagisées, et conservées ou abandonnées. Ces catégories ne sont cependant pas statiques et l'article souligne la non-linéarité des schémas d’évolution. Suivant Sara Berry, les auteurs montrent la diversité et le caractère imprévisible des trajectoires de commercialisation influencés par des conjonctures imbriquées de dynamique sociale, de changements générationnels et de conditions politico-économiques. Les résultats de commercialisation dépendent de l'intersection de dynamiques relationnelles et de facteurs économiques et politiques plus structurels. Les poussées de commercialisation sur ces exploitations sont subordonnées à l'accès à l'emploi par les chefs d'exploitation, à la main-d’œuvre (salariée, squatteurs et progéniture) et peut-être surtout aux moyens financiers pour investir. Il convient donc de qualifier la vision d'orientation, exagérément vantée, d'un nouveau secteur agricole commercial à moyenne échelle émergent en Afrique, et de reconnaître la divergence de résultats

Sugar, People and Politics in Zimbabwe’s Lowveld

The expansion of outgrower areas linked to large lowveld sugar estates has been an important component of Zimbabwe’s land reform since 2000. This has involved the transfer of nearly 16,000 ha to over 800 resettlement farmers on irrigated ‘A2’ plots of around 20 ha each. These farmers now produce around a quarter of the sugar output linked to the Triangle and Hippo Valley mills. Tongaat Hulett, a large South African conglomerate, is the dominant shareholder in Zimbabwe’s sugar industry, and its Zimbabwe operation represents a crucial part of the overall multi-million-dollar business. The new outgrowers are a mix of former civil servants, sugar industry professionals and business people, with some politicians and security service personnel also with land. Through a detailed analysis over 12 years of the changing fortunes of a group of new outgrowers linked to Hippo Valley estate, the paper explores the patterns of production, employment and wider livelihood contexts of outgrowers and their workers. In particular the paper examines the tensions and conflicts that have arisen, particularly between the new outgrowers and the estate. The paper in turn explores the implications for sugar politics in Zimbabwe’s Lowveld. The new outgrowers were drawn from a range of previous occupations and, compared to land reform beneficiaries in nearby dryland smallholder areas, were richer, better educated and more well-connected politically. The paper asks how this new group negotiated a relationship with a large-scale South African capitalist enterprise, and with what outcomes. More broadly, the paper examines how outgrowers, the state and capital brokered a politically and economically acceptable post-land reform deal, suiting all parties. Based on the longitudinal case study insights, the paper concludes with an assessment of whether Zimbabwe’s very particular sugar outgrower model of land reform will work, and if it does, for whom

Young People and Land in Zimbabwe: Livelihood Challenges After Land Reform

This article explores the livelihood challenges and opportunities of young people following Zimbabwe’s land reform in 2000. The article explores the life courses of a cohort of men and women, all children of land reform settlers, in two contrasting smallholder land reform sites. Major challenges to social reproduction are highlighted, reflected in an extended ‘waithood’, while some opportunities for accumulation are observed, notably in intensive agricultural production and agriculture-linked business enterprises. In conclusion, the implications of generational transfer of land, assets and livelihood opportunities are discussed in the context of Zimbabwe’s agrarian reform

Space, markets and employment in agricultural development: Zimbabwe

Growth in the agricultural sector has long been assumed to automatically benefit the rural non-farm sector, chiefly through various production or consumption expenditure ‘linkages’ including local expenditure by farmers and their workers (Davis et al., 2002). However, the economic and employment benefits of agriculture crucially depend on the spatial patterns of agricultural production, processing and marketing (and their linkages to local markets). How these work in Zimbabwe is examined in what follows. These policy findings draw on detailed, area-based research that examined agriculture and its linkages in two areas marked by ‘resettlement’ by emerging small- and medium-scale farmers since the Fast-Track Land Reform of the early 2000s (Sukume et al., 2015). Two study sites in Mvurwi and Masvingo Districts were examined, focusing on a range of commodities including tobacco, horticulture and beef

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

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

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

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

Space, markets and employment in agricultural development: Zimbabwe country report

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has undergone several phases of land redistribution, generally to communal and working people. The latest phase was the Fast-Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), which began in 2000 and redistributed 10.82 million hectares of land to 168 671 mainly small-scale producers (Moyo 2011). The result has been a major transformation of the farming landscape, with large-scale farms and ranches giving way to multiple smaller farms in an array of sizes. However, land reform on its own is not a cure for all rural economic development challenges. Land redistribution addresses the problem of land access – a key resource in generating farm-based employment and income – but, in addition, there is the need to create non-farm employment within the new rural spaces. This is an issue of central importance for agricultural development policy: not only because there are many people in rural areas who are landless or not involved in agricultural production, and who, therefore, do not benefit directly from land reform provisions, but also because large-scale agricultural investment projects, and increases in the productivity and efficiency of agriculture, may lead to people being displaced from land. Internationally, the existence of a large and growing population of landless and unemployed people, no longer involved in agriculture but unable to find a foothold in the non-farm economy, seriously compromises poverty reduction, food security, well-being and stability. Yet, the impact of agricultural development decisions on non-farm employment is often disregarded by policy-makers, who assume that those not finding employment in agriculture can be absorbed into the economy in other ways