Land rental policy and land market in Mashonaland East Province, Zimbabwe: implications on farmer decisions, efficiency and equity under A1 and A2 models

Government promulgated the land rental policy starting in the year 2007. The policy required that A1 (market residual) and A2 (indigenous commercial) farmers pay rentals to the state. Since then, there has also been an emerging trend in which farmers have been renting in and out land, resulting in an informal market for land rentals. The study therefore assessed farmers’ perceptions of land rental policy and evaluated the possible association of this policy to farmers’ decision making on land rental markets as well as its implications on farmers’ efficiency and equity. The study was carried out in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe, covering two districts, Goromonzi and Marondera. The focus was specifically on A1 and A2 farmers, as the rental policy was directed at these resettlement models only and much of the informal land rental markets were prevalent among these categories of farmers. Data collection utilised the survey approach. This was supported by key informant interviews and focus group discussions, with a final sample of 339 households selected using multi-stage sampling method. Survey data were transcribed on CsPro 6, and analysed using Stata, SPSS and Frontier 4.1. Results showed that about a third of household respondents was from Marondera and twothirds was from Goromonzi, while 79% and 21% was A1 and A2 farmers respectively. About 80% was male headed households and the remainder was female headed households. About half of the households were not participating in land rental markets while the other half was split almost equally between those renting-in and renting-out land. In general, A2 farmers were better in agricultural productivity than A1 farmers. It was concluded that farmers had a fairly good knowledge of the agricultural land rental policy enunciated in the Finance Bills. A1 farmers were more knowledgeable than A2 farmers, but no vii significant differences were observed between male and female headed households and farmers involved and not involved in land rental markets. Farmers’ attitudes in relation to policy were categorised as fair, with significant differences based on gender and land market participation. Practice scores showed a poor adherence to policy for all categories of farmers. Overall perceptions of farmers on rental policy was inferred as fair with significant differences existing between land rental market participants and non-participants (autarky). The results of a bivariate Tobit model results showed that the decision to rent-in land was significantly influenced by gender, household income, permanent labour, cultivated area, tenure certainty, irrigable land size and crop diversification. On the other hand, age, permanent labour, irrigable land size and crop diversification significantly influenced farmers’ decisions to rent-out land. The conclusion was that household characteristics, land endowments and transaction costs significantly influenced the decision to rent-in land while the former two were strong in influencing renting-out decisions. Results from the linearized Cobb Douglas model showed that economic efficiency for most farmers was above 50%. Farmers renting-out land under A1 were found to be the most economically efficient, followed by those who were renting-in and least efficient were farmers not participating in land rental markets, though the differences were marginal. For the A2 model, renting-in farmers were the most efficient, followed by those in autarky position, while renting-out farmers were the least. Overall, the most efficient farmers were those renting-in, followed by those renting-out while farmers in autarky were the least efficient. Overall efficiency was higher for A2 farmers than for A1 farmers. For farmers not participating in rental markets, the sources of inefficiency were crop type, crop area and labour. For farmers renting-in, it was proportion of irrigable land, size of irrigable land, crop type, crop area and viii labour, while inefficiency drivers for renting-out farmers were crop type and associated area. Equity analysis showed that participation in land rental markets reduced inequality for farmers in the two districts and male and female headed households. Inequality was increased among A1 farmers and remained unchanged among A2 farmers. Overall, the emerging position was that participation in land rental markets resulted in higher efficiency and reduced inequality in land holding among the sampled farmers. It is recommended that government should be consistent on land rental policy and bring into place effective administration of land rental policy. Government may also consider formal acceptance of land rental markets in light of the marginal efficiency and equity benefits shown in the study. However, formalizing land rental markets alone may not be a panacea to improved efficiency and needs to be supported by other productivity measures given the average efficiency values for farmers. Crop and livestock production based on compatibility with the natural regions and defined minimum size of land should be encouraged to improve efficienc

Determinants of Informal Land Renting Decisions by A1 and A2 Farmers in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe

Land rental markets are critical in developing economies as they contribute to efficiency, equity and welfare gains to farmers involved under conditions of low transaction costs. Despite lack of policy consistency in Zimbabwe, A1 and A2 farmers have been involved in these land rental markets, albeit in an informal manner. This study sought to establish the determinants of farmers’ decision to take part in these informal markets. A survey was carried out in Mashonaland East province with a sample of 339 households selected through multi-stage sampling methods and data analysed using a bi-variate Tobit model. Results showed that combined together, the proportion of farmers involved in informal land rental markets are as much as those not participating. Determinants of renting-in were identified as gender, household income, permanent labour, cultivated area, tenure certainty, irrigable land size and crop diversification. Factors affecting renting-out decisions were age, permanent labour, irrigable land size and crop diversification and these results are not in any way different from findings from previous studies. The conclusion was that household characteristics and land endowments factors were strong in decisions to rent-in land while land endowments factors were dominant in decisions to rent-out land. Any future considerations for formalising land rental markets should consider these important factors having a bearing on land rental decisions

A Value Chain Analysis of Tabasco Chillies Grown by Smallholder Farmers in Nyanga District, Zimbabwe

This paper traces tabasco chillies value chain through characterization, distribution of value added and determining the contribution of the crop to total farm income. Data were collected using a questionnaire at all the value chain stages analyzed. Gross margin analysis, domestic value added (DVA) and shipment value (SV) were used to analyse the data. Mapping shows that the value chain is dualized. Tabasco mash pathway has DVA/tonne as follows; farm level (US$342), semi-processing (US$343), packaging and exported tabasco mash (US$1077) and SV were US$386, US$605 and US$1205 respectively. For the dried chillies pathway, DVA/tonne was US$342 at farm level and US$426 for packaging and export while the SV were US$386 and US$511 respectively. Greatest value addition is coming from transport and export of tabasco mash, followed by packaging and export of dried chillies, farm production and semi-processing adding the least. The crop contributed 39% to farm household income. Keywords: Tabasco chillies, Zimbabwe, value chain analysis, income analysi

Benefits of an Irrigation Scheme and Its Determinants to Surrounding Peripheral Rural Communities

The objective of the study was to identify the extent of benefits and their determinants to communities surrounding the Qamata Irrigation Scheme (QIS) in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study used a quantitative based cross-sectional survey of 197 households within a radius of 20 km from the QIS. Multiple sampling methods were utilized where the villages were randomly and the households conveniently selected. A semi-structured pre-coded questionnaire was utilized to collect the data which was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logit regression. The study identified 14 discriminant benefits ranging from job opportunities, income increment food diversification to share cropping. Sixty-two percent of the households identified less than 5 benefits, whilst 27% and 11% identified 6-10 and 11-14 benefits respectively. Determinants of a surrounding household to attain benefits were significantly influenced by the distance from the scheme, the main source of income and gender of household head (P<0.01); marital and employment status (P<0.05); and access to farm land (P<0.1). The study concludes that the level of benefit diffused to surrounding households is based on socio-economic factors. The study recommends conscientization of surrounding communities on the peripheral benefits accrued from the proximity to the QIS, achievable through awareness initiatives

Determinants of Risk Behaviour in Livestock Development Programs: Evidence from South Africa's Kaonafatso Yadikgomo (Kyd) Scheme

Risk plays a significant role in input use decisions and production of output in agricultural production. Understanding farmer risk attitudes and their responses to risk is significant in designing effective intervention programmes. Few studies have tried to identify how the introduction of a livestock programme has tended to influence farmer risk profile. The objective of the study was to highlight the determinants of risk behaviour in participants of a livestock development programme. The study was carried out in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Province of South Africa, utilising a purposive sample of 164 respondents who are part of the Kaonafatso Yadikgomo (KYD) Scheme. The cross-sectional survey collected data pertaining to the risk attitudes of the livestock farmers from an attitudinal scale as well as socio-economic and farm biophysical characteristics. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression were used to analyse the data. The results show that the livestock farmers were risk loving, with the risk attitude being influenced by the age of household head, monthly household income and experience in rearing cattle at the ð‘ < 0.1 level. Furthermore, the source of income, herd size, reason for slaughtering cattle distance to the nearest water source and access to a dip tank had significant influence of attitude towards risk at the ð‘ < 0.05 level. The study concludes that being part of a livestock development programme tends inflto uence the risk attitudes of the participants as the determinants were against a priori expectations.&nbsp

Characterisation of smallholder resettled sugarcane farmers and their perceptions towards microfinance in Zimbabwe (chiredzi)

The study sought to characterize smallholder A2 resettled sugarcane farmers and evaluate their perceptions towards microfinance. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used. Results revealed that the majority of farmers solely depend on sugarcane farming. More than 80% of farmers (non-participants) were risk averse while, 90% of the beneficiaries indicated to be risk neutral. More than 90% of the sample farmers subscribe to Sugarcane Farmers Associations. Farmers perceived interest rates, processing and administration charges to be very high. Male farmers dominated their female counterpart and primary education being the highest education level attained by the majority of farmers. Farmers perceived the Estate to be offering better support than the government, MFIs and Farmers Associations in their areas of advocacy. Policy suggestions include gender balance on land allocation; government to be proactive after allocating land. Further recommendations include that MFIs should supplement the disbursed funds with other non-financial services; reduce interest rates, payback period, application procedures and time and increasing grace period