Table Of ContentLand Reform under Structural
Adjustment in Zimbabwe
Land Use Change
in the Mashonaland Provinces
Sam Moyo
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala
This report was commissioned and produced under the auspices of the
Nordic Africa Institute’s programme on The Political and Social Context of
Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of a series of reports
published on the theme of structural adjustment and socio-economic change
in contemporary Africa.
Programme Co-ordinator and Series Editor:
Adebayo Olukoshi
Indexing terms
Land policy
Land reform
Land use
Structural adjustment
Zimbabwe
Mashonaland, Zimbabwe
Language checking: Elaine Almén
© the author and Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2000
ISBN 91-7106-457-5
Printed in Sweden by Elanders Gotab, Stockholm, 2000
Table of Contents
FOREWORD .............................................9
1. ZIMBABWE’S NEW LAND QUESTION.......................11
1.1 Introductory Remarks ...................................11
1.2 The Research Questions ..................................12
1.3 Zimbabwe’s Land Question in Perspective ....................14
1.4 Study Layout..........................................17
2. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK AND STUDY AREA.........18
2.1 Understanding the Influences and Impact of Structural
Adjustment Policy Reforms ...............................18
2.2 Emerging Perspectives and Methodology on the Land Question.....21
2.3 Identifying New Land Uses and New Actors...................32
2.4 Selecting the Study Area..................................37
2.5 The Study Area: Mashonaland, Shamva District and Other Sites.....39
2.6 The Data and Its Collection................................42
2.7 Limitations of Data and Sources ............................46
2.8 Summary.............................................49
3. POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT....................51
3.1 Introduction ..........................................51
3.2 Macro-Economic and Agricultural Policy Influences on Land Policy..51
3.3 Specific Land Use Policies and Regulations Affecting Land Policy....59
3.4 Land Policy Changes in the 1990s ...........................72
3.5 Conclusions...........................................83
4. CHANGING LAND USES AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF
THE LAND QUESTION ..................................85
4.1 Introduction ..........................................85
4.2 Macro Level Spatial Distribution of New Land Uses..............85
4.3 Development of the Horticulture Sector.......................90
4.4 Wildlife Land Use Patterns...............................108
4.5 Intensive Wildlife Land Use: Ostrich Husbandry ...............131
4.6 Summary of New Land Use Developments ...................141
5. POLITICS AND ACTORS IN NEW LAND STRUGGLES ..........144
5.1 The Politics of New Land Users ...........................144
5.2 The Organisational Framework of New Land Uses..............145
5.3 The Issues Raised by New Land Uses .......................149
5.4 Summary Remarks.....................................159
6. CONCLUDING REMARKS ...............................161
BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................167
ANNEXES .............................................177
Annex 1.0 Profile of Researcher, Research Assistants and Persons
Interviewed and Case Studies .......................177
Annex 2.0 Methodological Framework and Study Area.............184
Annex 3.0 Policy and Institutional Context......................188
Annex 4.0 Changing Land Uses and Reconstructing the Land Question .189
Annex 5.0 Politics and Major Actors in the New Land Struggles.......205
Annex 6.0 Questionnaires ..................................213
List of Tables
Table 2.2.1. Classes of Land Allocated to Wildlife Enterprises on
Commercial Farms...............................28
Table 2.2.2. Comparison of Returns/Ha of Different Types of
Land Uses in Zimbabwe ..........................28
Table 2.2.3. Middle Sized Land Use Structure in Mashonaland
in 1996........................................31
Table 2.3.1. Changing Nature of Land Demand According to Sectors in
Zimbabwe.....................................36
Table 2.4.1. Land Classification by Agro-Ecological Region and by Sector 38
Table 2.5.1. Major Crops in Commercial Farms in the Mashonaland
Provinces 1990..................................39
Table 2.5.2. Socio-Economic Profile of Mashonaland ...............40
Table 2.5.3. Qualitative Case Studies in Shamva District.............42
Table 2.6.1. Summary of Persons Interviewed at the National
Level and in the Mashonaland Provinces...............44
Table 2.6.2. Farmer Fieldwork Case Studies......................45
Table 2.7.1. Summary of Cases Observed in the Course of Study.......47
Table 3.2.1. Agricultural Pricing and Marketing Policy..............56
Table 3.2.2. Agricultural Marketing Boards Reform ................56
Table 3.3.1. Special Policy Incentives Promoting Horticulture.........61
Table 3.3.2. Wildlife Policy Change Demand.....................65
Table 3.3.3. Ostrich Policy Developments .......................68
Table 3.4.1. Land Distribution................................75
Table 3.4.2. Resettlement Beneficiaries and Programmes: 1996 Proposals.75
Table 3.4.3. Departments Consulted in Processing Subdivisions
and Consolidation Applications .....................79
Table 4.3.1. Cutflowers and Vegetable Destinations 1994/95 Season ....92
Table 4.3.2. Overview of GoZ Small Farmer Irrigation Schemes:
Mashonaland, 1996...............................97
Table 4.3.3. Differentiation of Garden Plots and Field Plots,
Sales, Income and Retentions .......................99
Table 4.3.4. Madziwa Dambo Horticultural Cropping .............100
Table 4.3.5. Smallholder Training Farmlands....................101
Table 4.3.6. Land Use Structure of Training Farms................102
Table 4.3.7. Small Farmer Land Use and Estimated Benefits Profile:
Mashonaland Central–Shamva District ...............103
Table 4.3.8. Principe Contract Farming Arrangements .............105
Table 4.3.9. Principe Contract Sales Incomes ....................106
Table 4.3.10. Principe Farmer Grievance with Sub-Contracts .........107
Table 4.3.11. ...........................Farmer Perceptions of Contract Farming Benefits 107
Table 4.4.1. National Employees in Tourist Industries .............108
Table 4.4.2. The Role of Wildlife in the Formal Economy ...........109
Table 4.4.3. Distribution of Wildlife Resources by Tenure...........111
Table 4.4.4. Analysis of Origin of Trophy by Land Tenure, 1990 ......111
Table 4.4.5. Numbers of Carnivores on Commercial Game Ranches
by Natural Region ..............................114
Table 4.4.6. Allocation of Save Valley Ordinary “A” Shares .........117
Table 4.4.7. Estimated Numbers of Wildlife to Be Acquired
for the Conservancy.............................118
Table 4.4.8. State (ADA) Wildlife Ranch .......................119
Table 4.4.9. Growth of Sport Hunting in Zimbabwe...............120
Tqble 4.4.10. Contribution of Five Species to Total Trophy Fees .......121
Table 4.4.11. Household Dividends Paid under the Campfire
Programme 1992 in Mashonaland as of 1992 ...........121
Table 4.4.12. Sources and Allocation of Wildlife Revenues under
Zimbabwe’s Campfire Programme ..................122
Table 4.4.13. The Economics of Campfire: 1991 District Performance ...123
Table 4.4.14. Live Animal Sale Prices in 1991 Compared With Those
Achieved in 1990 for Triangle/WMS Auctions..........125
Table 4.4.15. Ivory Production 1985 to 1991......................127
Table 4.4.16. The WPA Quota for 1994 .........................128
Table 4.4.17. Department of National Parks’ 1996 Zambezi Valley
Hunting Camps Auction..........................128
Table 4.4.18. Number and Value of Trophies by Nationality of
Sport Hunters in Nyaminyami District ...............129
Table 4.5.1. Ostrich Stock for a Selected Number of Years...........134
Table 4.5.2. Actual Export Earnings...........................135
Table 4.5.3. Expected Income by Topaz Breeders .................136
Table 4.5.4. Project by Sponsor and Supporting Agencies...........137
Table 4.5.5. Distribution of Ostrich Projects.....................138
Table 4.5.6. Expected Employment from Ostrich Work.............139
Table 4.6.1. New Land Uses in 1995/96........................141
Table 5.2.1. Organisational Map: New Land Use Actors............146
List of Boxes and Charts
Box 3.3.1. AFC Loan Case Studies ............................60
Chart 4.2.1. Zimbabwe’s Macro-Spatial Land Use Structure...........86
Box 4.3.1. Case Study of Tsakare Irrigation and Dryland
Resettlement Scheme..............................95
Box 4.3.2. Marketing Case Study: Walk Project (Pvt) Ltd...........105
Box 4.4.1. Save Conservancy...............................115
Box 4.4.2. Contractual Arrangements between ADA and a
Private Safari Operator ...........................119
Box 4.4.3. Nyaminyami Campfire Case Details ..................120
Box 5.3.1. Forestry Commission and Land Resources Sharing .......153
List of Abbreviations
AAG Affirmative Action Group
ADA Agricultural Development Authority
ADB African Development Bank
AFC Agricultural Finance Corporation
Agritex Agricultural, Technical and Extension Services
BOP Bulawayo Ostrich Producers
CA Communal Areas
Campfire Communal Areas Management for Indigenous
Resources
CASS Centre for Applied Social Sciences
CBO Community Based Organisation
CFU Commercial Farmers Union
CIDA Canadian International Development Association
CSO Central Statistical Office
CZI Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
DAPP Development Aid from People to People
DNPWLM Department of National Parks and Wildlife
Management
DNR Department of Natural Resources
EC European Community
ENDA Environmental Development Activities
ESAP Economic Structural Adjustment Programme
FC Forestry Commission
FAO Food and Agriculture Organisation
GoZ Government of Zimbabwe
GTZ German Technical Services
HORTICO Horticultural Company
HPC Horticultural Promotion Council
IBDC Indigenous Business Development Corporation
IBWO Indigenous Business Women Organisation
ICFU Indigenous Commercial Farmers Union
ILO International Labour Organisation
LSCF Large Scale Commercial Farms
LTC Land Tenure Commission
MPs Members of Parliament
NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations
NORAD Norwegian Agency for International Development
N.R.(s) Natural Region(s)
NRB Natural Resources Board
OCCZIM Organisation for collective cooperation in
Zimbabwe
ODA Overseas Development Authority
ORAP Organisation for Rural Association for Progress
RST Resettlement Areas
SADC Southern Africa Development Cooperation
SHOC Small Holder Ostrich Cooperation
SSCF Small Scale Commercial Farms
TOPAZ The Ostrich Producers Association of Zimbabwe
UDI Unilateral Declaration of Independence
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund
USAID United States Agency for International
Development
VIDCO(s) Village Development Committees
WARDCO(s) Ward Development Committees
WPA Wildlife Producers Association
WWF World Wildlife Fund
ZCT Zimbabwe Council of Tourism
ZCTU Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
ZFU Zimbabwe Farmers Union
ZOPA Zimbabwe Ostrich Producers Association
Foreword
When this study was commissioned in 1995 within the framework of the
Nordic Africa Institute’s research programme on The Political and Social Con-
text of Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa, little did we realise that
the issues which it was designed to cover would be at the heart of some of
the most intense political contestations in Zimbabwe’s post-colonial history.
At the time Sam Moyo began his research on new land uses in the context of
the market reform programme of the Zimbabwean state, it was conceived as
one of three other studies aimed at providing a deeper, empirically-
grounded understanding of the changing political economy of land in the
broader framework of the socio-economic changes unleashed across Africa
by prolonged economic decline and structural adjustment. That aim was
clearly accomplished by this study, together with the very rich data base on
which the analysis is built. On top of this, the report provides the reader
with clear insights into the historical and structural sources of the on-going
contestations over the Land Question, contestations which have been
dramatised by the renewed “land invasions” that are, this time, tied to the
struggle over the control of the Zimbabwean political terrain.
In charting the dynamics of new land uses in Zimbabwe as exemplified
by the expansion of horticultural activities and tourism-related game ranch-
ing, Moyo’s study was able to bring out very clearly, the contradictions built
into the changing political economy of access to, control, and use of land. He
underscores the point that the Zimbabwean Land Question has been ren-
dered more complicated by the structures and processes associated with the
new land uses not only in terms of the distribution of land between black
and white farmers but also among different categories of farmers. The pic-
ture of a state that attempts to satisfy the needs of the large-scale, mostly
white commercial farmer lobby whilst being buffeted by pressures from
different categories of black farmers for a greater accommodation of their
own interests, and the demands of the large army of landless people still
waiting for some form of restitution, puts into clear perspective, the swings
in state policy on land that have been witnessed over the years. Readers will
clearly find this report to be both informative and insightful and the timing
of its publication could not have been more fortuitous.
Getting the manuscript into its present state entailed a great deal of work
for which a few words of appreciation are in order. First, of course, is Sam
Moyo whom I would like to thank for all the work which he and his
research assistants put into the data collection and analysis effort. Second,
Solveig Hauser, the assistant of the Institute’s programme on The Political
and Social Context of Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa, who
complemented my effort in painstakingly going through the manuscript,
10 Land Reform under Structural Adjustment in Zimbabwe
including the tables, for consistency of content, style and format. Thirdly, I
should like to acknowledge the NAI publications department, especially
Susanne Ljung Adriansson, for the additional editorial work which they did
on the manuscript. I trust that the wealth of insight which the manuscript
presents serves as a small consolation for the many hours of work that have
gone into its production in this form.
Adebayo Olukoshi
Research Programme Co-ordinator, Programme on The Political and Social
Context of Structural Adjustment in Sub-Saharan Africa
Description:Land Reform under Structural. Adjustment in Zimbabwe. Land Use Change in the
Mashonaland Provinces. Sam Moyo. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala
