Back to Index

Overall impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe
African Institute for Agrarian Studies (AIAS)
May 13, 2004

http://www.aiastrust.org/index.php?section=publications&id=876900456

Download this document
- Word 97 version (245KB)
- Acrobat PDF version (316KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.

Introduction
The second phase of the Land Redistribution and Resettlement programme in the form of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), which started in 2000, has created an expanded number and array of small, medium and large scale farms, and effectively transferring ownership from the minority, white farmers to new indigenous farmers. A significant drop in agricultural production and food availability in particular, and in economic activity in general have accompanied this change.

Between 1980 and 1999 Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector grew steadily, albeit slowly. Producing a diverse range of domestic and export commodities, agriculture contributed over 40% of national exports and 18% of GDP, employed 30% of the formal labour force (350,000 full-time and part-time workers) and 70% of the population. Its intricate agro-industrial linkages under-girded 60% of the industrial base and close to 50% of GDP growth depended directly and indirectly on agriculture and agro-industry. Overall economic growth since 1980 was lacklustre.

Agriculture during the 1990’s was increasingly liberalized through structural adjustment macro-economic policies, and agricultural pricing and marketing were decontrolled. Greater incentives led to the growth of diversified traditional and non-traditional commodities. Food production was generally self-sufficient, with some imports, especially during drought periods. Agricultural production however depended heavily on imported inputs and machinery, which relied on stable export revenues, external commercial credit and balance of payments support. Production remained vulnerable to 5 yearly droughts, especially in the peasant sector, which while producing 70% of the staple foods (maize, groundnuts, etc) relies on rainfed farming, as it holds less than 5% of national irrigation resources.

To address the lack of social justice and the problems of inefficiency that underlay this agrarian structure, gradualistic land reforms were initiated up to 1996. Sporadic "illegal" land occupations sought to re-dress the land imbalances. In 1997, the GoZ initiated a process of radical land reform based upon extensive compulsory land acquisition and redistribution, targeting 5 million hectares for transfer. This occurred in the context of a growing fiscal deficits and exchange rate collapse, following the allocation of increased pensions to war veterans, and related political conflict within the ruling party. However it was only in the year 2000, when political conflicts grew, that radical compulsory land acquisitions began, and the land targeted for transfer was shifted from 5 to 10 million hectares by 2001. This acquisition process was accompanied by extensive land occupations led by war veterans, peaking at around 1,000 LSCF properties occupied in the year 2000. Eventually over 6,000 properties were gazetted for acquisition and allocated by GoZ to approximately 135,000 households and small to medium commercial farmers by mid-2003.

Since 1997 shifts in Zimbabwe’s land reform, agricultural and economic policies, and its relations with the international community, including external financial institutions, have accompanied dramatic economic decline. The economy faces crisis hyper-inflation, foreign currency and commodity shortages and hoarding, the erosion of incomes, increased food and social services, insecurity, the halving of production in the real economic sector, and reduced employment. Severe droughts between 2001 and 2002 worsened this situation. Economic policy became increasingly dirigiste from 2000 with greater state control of commodity prices and markets (including interest rates) and greater control and rationing of foreign currency, alongside expansionary monetary policies and deficit financing. These processes have led to a downward trend of increased economic informalisation and parallel markets, and to reduced incentives for production in most spheres. Increased political conflict since 2000, and the reduction of external international support since 1998 (balance of payments, targeted aid and commercial finance), due to differences over land reform and economic policies, as well as over the evolving governance system, exacerbated the economic crisis and political tensions.

This papers assesses the overall impacts of the government’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme on the agricultural sector. More specifically, this paper assesses trends in agricultural production, food security, the distributional outcomes of the FTLRP and the impacts of FTLRP on the social vulnerable groups.

Land Acquisition Patterns
The government’s desire to resettle people fast meant that land allocations were being made even before the legal process of acquiring land had been completed. Thus, some of the resettled farms are still under sections 5 or 8 orders and are yet to be confirmed in the administrative courts, while others have been confirmed but still have to be paid for in full. A clear assessment of the acquisition process is essential to gauge what needs to be done to complete the process as well as to identify potential areas of conflict over ownership, since the current information is unclear.

Gazetting of farms

The Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ) land acquisition policy targets have become legally ensconced at 11 million hectares in the 2004 amendments to the Land Acquisition Act (1992) suggesting that almost the entire large-scale commercial farm(s) (LSCF) lands are targeted for transfer and/or that land tenure policy has veered towards converting most agricultural freehold land to leasehold land. According to the latest GoZ assessments (presented at the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) in December 2003), by 3 November 2003, 6,712 farms covering an area of 12,387,571 hectares nationwide had been gazetted (see Table 2.1).

Table: Gazetted farms

Source: ZANU PF Conference Central Committee Report, 2003

However, the Presidential Land Review Committee (PLRC) (in August 2003) estimated that government had acquired 6,422 farms covering 10,839,108 hectares. Government officials attributed this variance to time differences between the two assessments. The residual differences arise from weakness in the land acquisition data management system, especially in the entry statistical analyses, exacerbated by the frequent changes occasioned by the need to gazette most farms, which are successfully contested in courts or those whose time-bound notices and orders expired before hearings. The amendments in 2004 of the Land Acquisition Act (1992) are intended by the GoZ to remove the procedural obstacles to rapid gazetting and, confirmation of acquisitions and increase the bargaining position of the GoZ in its negotiations over former LSCF landowner retentions and delistings. The constitutionality of this was however challenged by an adverse report of parliament although it was defeated.

Download full document

Visit the African Institute for Agrarian Studies (AIAS) fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP