Agrarian Accumulation and Peasant Resistance in Africa

Chambati, Walter; Mazwi, Freedom; Mberi, Steven

doi:10.2307/j.ctvh8r26b.13

Cited by 12 publications

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“…Both argue that capitalist penetration leads to accumulation for some growers and impoverishment for others, deepening social disparities. The conversion of a proportion of agricultural producers to agrarian capitalists, as accompanied by the displacement of other peasants from their land, further accentuates heterogeneity and stratification, as evidenced in sugar growing in Kilombero in Tanzania, Maragra in Mozambique, and Busoga in Uganda (see Chambati et al, 2018;Martiniello, 2015Martiniello, , 2017Sulle, 2016). Similar outcomes are highlighted by Oya (2007) and Cousins et al (1992) in their case studies of Senegal and Zimbabwe, respectively.…”

Section: Social Differentiation and The Trimodal Agrarian Structurementioning

confidence: 75%

Revisiting the Trimodal Agrarian Structure as a Social Differentiation Analysis Framework in Zimbabwe: A Study

Mazwi

Muchetu

Mudimu

2021

Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy: A triannual Journ

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The study of social differentiation in the countryside is often dominated by the deployment of classical analytical frameworks. This article quantitatively explores social differentiation at the sub-national level (Chiredzi and Zvimba districts in Zimbabwe), through the use of the trimodal agrarian structure (TMAS) framework. It addresses the question of whether variables outlined in TMAS (land sizes, labor, and credit) stimulate social differentiation patterns across various settlement models, which emerged after Zimbabwe’s land reform program. If so, what groups or clusters emerge and what are the differentials at the local level? Through statistical factor and cluster analysis, this article reveals that the TMAS variables do explain social differentiation even at the sub-national level. Land sizes, access to capital, and ownership of cattle are key factors in explaining this differentiation. Beyond the variables presented by the TMAS, we argue that agroecological zones and crop type are also instrumental in shaping social differentiation. From the evidence presented, it is difficult to visualize inter-cluster mobility because of various reasons, which include state-based tenure.

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Section: Social Differentiation and The Trimodal Agrarian Structurementioning

confidence: 75%

Revisiting the Trimodal Agrarian Structure as a Social Differentiation Analysis Framework in Zimbabwe: A Study

Mazwi

Muchetu

Mudimu

2021

Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy: A triannual Journ

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“…It has reinforced the logic of the production of cash crops for export while undermining food production for local consumption and nutritional requirements (Patnaik & Moyo, 2011). It has pushed peasants and rural workers into contract farming within global agricultural value systems, where new dependencies are created on foreign markets, finance, and technology (Amanor, 2019; Chambati & Mazwi, 2022; Martiniello & Azambuja, 2019; Meagher, 2019; Torvikey, 2022; Tsikata, 2022). It has created a myth of a ‘green revolution’ under the auspices of major US-based foundations, which have poured half a billion dollars in grants to a dozen countries since the mid-2000s for the purchase of commercial seeds and synthetic fertilizers from the monopolies themselves, but without delivering gains in productivity or food security (Wise, 2020).…”

Section: The Convergence Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalized Semiproletarianization in Africa

Yeros

2023

The Indian Economic Journal

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This article provides an overview of Africa’s contemporary social formation. It is argued that the labour question in Africa has undergone a decisive transformation under neoliberalism. While under colonial rule the formation of labour reserves was mainly the result of political engineering, especially in regions of white settlement, today labour reserves are driven by the spontaneous operation of generalized monopoly capitalism and have become coextensive with the continent. This changing labour question is the most basic element of an apparent tendency of structural convergence among the continent’s macro-regions; it amounts to a generalized condition of semiproletarianization, insofar as the bulk of the population is unable to meet its basic needs within the wage relation or outside it. Peasant and worker households straddle various labour regimes in rural and urban areas and seek to secure their social reproduction by a combination of wages, petty production and trade, simple use values, and unpaid reproductive labour. Data sourced from the ILO are used to qualify some of these trends, including their gendered dimensions. JEL Codes: C1, F5, J2, N5, R1

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“…In this case, Sakunda Holdings, which is key in implementing the program, was issued Treasury Bills by the state, demonstrating that private capital in this case relies on state loans. Also, with the 2007–2008 global food and energy crises, there have been concerns raised that corporates and companies diversify into other operations and economic activities ostensibly to spread risks (Chambati, Mazwi, & Mberi, 2018; Shivji, 2011). Sakunda Holdings is a firm whose primary business interests are energy and its entrance into the agricultural sector should be subjected to scrutiny.…”

Section: The Targeted Command Agriculture Programmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, no A2 farmer entered into contract with the expectation of extension service. This can be attributed to the fact that most A2 farmers are able to hire labor, particularly skilled labor, that used to work for former white commercial farmers (Chambati, 2007).…”

Section: National Agricultural and Household Production Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Economy of Command Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A State-led Contract Farming Model

Mazwi¹,

Chemura²,

Mudimu³

et al. 2019

Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy: A triannual Journ

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After the withdrawal of agrarian capital from financing agriculture in the context of a backlash following the implementation radical land redistribution and tenure reforms since 2000, the fiscally constrained Zimbabwean state assumed an enlarged role in funding production, especially of food grains. Various input subsidy programs were initiated by state and donor agencies to plug the challenges faced by farmers in accessing expensive agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizer on the open markets. Notwithstanding these interventions, the country’s national production has been short of domestic demand for grains, among other key food items, and the recurrent deficits have been increasingly met with a ballooning food import bill. Against this background, in 2016, the Zimbabwe government initiated the Special Maize Import Substitution Programme to enhance domestic production and reduce food imports. Commonly referred to as the Targeted Command Agriculture Programme (TCAP), it is akin to a contract-farming scheme enlisting both the peasantries and the new small-scale capitalist farms, with funding support from domestic capital. Contract farming in Zimbabwe has largely been driven by domestic and international agribusiness and focused on export commodities such as cotton, tobacco and horticulture. In this respect, the TCAP represents a relatively novel, if not innovative, approach by the state to finance food production through contract farming geared to serve the home market. This article examines the effectiveness of this state-driven model of financing agriculture, drawing from research conducted in Zvimba district, in Mashonaland West Province.

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Agrarian Accumulation and Peasant Resistance in Africa

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Revisiting the Trimodal Agrarian Structure as a Social Differentiation Analysis Framework in Zimbabwe: A Study

Revisiting the Trimodal Agrarian Structure as a Social Differentiation Analysis Framework in Zimbabwe: A Study

Generalized Semiproletarianization in Africa

Political Economy of Command Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A State-led Contract Farming Model

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