The weak link in Zimbabwe's agricultural miracle 1980‐1990: A case study of Masvingo Province resettlement projects

Abstract

Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has been able to sustain and increase agricultural output in all the major crops, namely maize, wheat, tobacco and cotton. This achievement has been regarded as a major ‘miracle’ abroad. This paper argues that the colonial agricultural policy laid down the framework and a system of incentives which encouraged the growth of a prosperous and productive commercial farming class. While the European element predominated, a black master farmer class was encouraged and nurtured. It is the deliberate exclusion of this master farmer class, and government's failure to expand it that may prove to be the major weakness of post‐independence resettlement policy.

Notes

Professor of History, Lander College, South Carolina. USA, and research affiliate, Center for African Studies, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA.