The Sunday Mail
A1 farmers who benefited from Government’s land reforms are outperforming their more experienced old resettlement and communal counterparts in maize, cotton and tobacco production through better land use and “business-mindedness”.
A study by Mr Gareth James – a respected African Studies lecturer at Britain’s University of Edinburgh – shows land reform beneficiaries are producing 3,7 tonnes per household, while old resettlement and communal harvests average 1,7 tonnes and 0,7 tonnes, respectively.
Mr James’ research paper entitled “Land use and production outcomes” was presented during the United Kingdom African Studies Association Conference at the University of Sussex last month.
The research was conducted in parts of Mashonaland and Manicaland, and involved 600 households.
The findings show that most land beneficiaries were “ordinary, poor and near-landless people” from nearby communal areas.
They are utilising up to 70 percent of their properties productively, about 5 percent more than old resettlement and communal farmers.
On average, A1 farmers are placing more land (around 1, 8 hectares) under maize.
On the other hand, their counterparts are allocating between 0,7 hectares and 1,3 hectares to the crop.
The newly-resettled farmers are harvesting 1,8 tonnes per hectare compared to old resettlement (1,3 tonnes) and communal (1,1 tonnes) growers.
Forty percent of those interviewed, however, cited high production costs and unavailability of inputs among their major challenges, and 26 percent pointed to draught-power and labour shortages. The research paper reads, in part: “On average, new farmers produce more maize, tobacco and cotton per producing household. On average, new farmers have access to and use more land.
“New farmers have made impressive gains in livestock production, especially cattle. (They are) younger, better educated (and have) access to inputs through contract farming and have widespread business mentality.”
Government embarked on land reforms 14 years ago to redress land imbalances and economically empower indigenous Zimbabweans.
While the reforms benefitted over 300 000 households, small-scale farmers – many of whom previously solely worked in urban centres and migrated to rural agriculture – have evolved into highly competitive crop producers.
There were indications last season that these growers accounted for 75 percent of maize yields spanning 1,4 million metric tonnes.
Over 1,6 million households received inputs under the Presidential Well-Wishers Agriculture Input Support Scheme.
A new report by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Zimvac) Rural Livelihoods Assessment Report confirms the changing fortunes of ruralfolk who now enjoy three standard dietary meals daily, courtesy of national agriculture support programmes that are ensuring household food security.
