Livelihoods after Land Reform in Zimbabwe: Understanding Processes of Rural Differentiation

Abstract

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.

Livelihoods, Land and Political Economy: Reflections on Sam Moyo’s Research Methodology

“…Our work in Masvingo from this period showed a much more variegated picture, reflecting both narratives (Chaumba et al, 2003a(Chaumba et al, , 2003bScoones et al, 2010Scoones et al, , 2012a. It varied massively, farm by farm and over time.…”

“…Here, the argument for a hedged compromise, involving diverse cross-class alliances seems appropriate. But again, this is different in different places: for example, deals struck in the Lowveld sugar estates have been very different to those in the core resettlement areas of Masvingo province, and different again to areas where high-value commercial contract agriculture grew, as in parts of Mashonaland through the tobacco boom (Scoones, 2015b(Scoones, , 2016Scoones et al, 2012aScoones et al, , 2012b). from our work in Masvingo (Scoones et al, 2010), and subsequently Mvurwi in Mashonaland (Sukume et al, 2015) and Matobo in Matabeland, and from studies led by Prosper Matondi and the Ruzivo Trust (Matondi, 2012).…”

Tobacco, contract farming, and agrarian change in Zimbabwe

“…The tobacco boom has provided a significant group of land reform beneficiaries the opportunity to accumulate. This has had spin-off effects in the rural economy-generating employment, and resulting in investments of different sorts and changes in the local 21 The extent of accumulation, driven by tobacco production, exceeds that found in the drier mixed farming areas of Masvingo (see Scoones et al, 2010Scoones et al, , 2012.…”

“Bring Back the Land”—A Call to Refocus on the Spatial Dimension of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform

“…This is important for a satellite based research on Zimbabwe's FTLRP because farm and field sizes decreased significantly following land reform, as fields were subdivided and a more heterogeneous agricultural production system began [57]. Although the authors did not extend their research to a national scale and they did not couple their results to the FTLRP explicitly, their work confirms the applicability of remote sensing and the sensor MODIS to map changes in crop area as consequences of Zimbabwe's land reform events.…”