Diversification of sugar production in Zimbabwe: wealth accumulation from below by outgrowers

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the implications of the diversification of the sugar production occasioned by the land redistribution implemented in Zimbabwe since 2000 on wealth accumulation by sugar outgrowers. While the extensive land reforms altered the national agrarian structure it also widened participation in sugar production as more than 1,000 black land recipients were integrated as outgrowers of transnational capital. This study shows that wealth accumulation is noticeable through farm mechanisation. However, the exploitative nature of the schemes through pricing of inputs and outputs, as well as monopoly rents accruing to transnational capital tends to slow down the pace of accumulation.

RÉSUMÉ

Dans cet article, nous analysons les conséquences de la diversification de la production de sucre occasionnée par l'accumulation de richesses par les sous-traitants du sucre dans le contexte de la redistribution des terres qui a eu lieu au Zimbabwe depuis l’année 2000. Si d’importantes réformes agraires ont altéré la structure agraire nationale, elles ont également mené à une diversification de la participation à la production de sucre: plus de 1 000 bénéficiaires de dons de terres noirs ont été intégrés en tant que sous-traitants du capital transnational. Cette étude démontre que l’accumulation des richesses se remarque particulièrement dans la mécanisation de l’agriculture. Cependant, l’exploitation de ces systèmes au travers de la tarification des intrants et des extrants, ainsi que l’incorporation des rentes de monopole dans le capital transnational, tendent à ralentir le rythme de cette accumulation.

KEYWORDS:

• Wealth inequalities
• wealth accumulation from below
• outgrowers
• transnational capital
• fast-track land reform programme

Acknowledgements

We wish to express our gratitude to the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), South Africa for funding the collection of data through their NIHSS/ CODESRIA Doctoral Programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Deagrarianisation is a societal process which marks a shift from the agrarian mode to other forms of survival in communities that previously used to rely on agriculture. The phenomena is characterised by a shift to urban forms of employment mostly by the youths.

2 Repeasantisation is a concept developed by Moyo and Yeros (2005) denoting a re-orientation of urban based social reproduction towards those in the rural areas in the Global South because of the crisis of capitalism manifest in mass unemployment and de-industrialisation. Land becomes a key source of livelihood under such conditions.

3 The A1 is the main small scale redistribution scheme was designed to be an expansion of the smallholder sector (commonly called the communal area sector).Generally beneficiaries were given 5–6 hectares (ha) of arable land for farming and 7–15 ha per household for grazing. The A2 model is comprised of farm units averaging 330 ha and found throughout the country. Farm sizes vary according to natural agro-ecological regions (NR). Plots in NR IV and V tend to be larger than those occurring in NR I and II and some parts of NR III.

4 Sugar plots were allocated only to the A2 farmers.

5 According to Jha et al. (2022) contract farming is a formal or informal arrangement between a farmer and an economic actor for purposes of producing or marketing crops. Contract farming differs across time and space, mode of production and social formation.

6 Zimbabwe is divided into five agro-ecological zones, based on factors such as rainfall, quality of soil and agricultural practices. Natural regions (NR) I and II are suitable for highly intensive agriculture, III and IV are suitable for livestock rearing and the production of drought-tolerant crops while V is arid, with limited agricultural activity taking place in that region. Tobacco is largely grown in NR I and 11.

7 According to the Editorial of the Agrarian South Journal of Political Economy (2012), the Agrarian Question of Monopoly-Finance Capital omni-present since the launching of neoliberalism project by Bretton Woods Institutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) is primarily concerned with how to democratise the control of ‘ … global agriculture, land and other natural resources from the predatory logic of monopoly-finance capital [that recuperating monopoly profit] and submitting them to the logic of autonomous, egalitarian … industrial and sustainable development, for the benefit of all the peoples … .’ (1–2).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Freedom Mazwi

Freedom Mazwi currently teaches The Political Economy of Africa as well as Land and Agrarian Questions in Africa at the University of Cape Town, Department of African Studies and Linguistics where he has also held a postdoctoral fellowship. He holds a PhD in Development Studies obtained from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Recent publications are: Capital Penetration and the Peasantry in Southern and Eastern Africa: Neoliberal Restructuring and Farming and Working under Contract: Peasants and Workers in Global Agricultural Value Systems (both published in 2022). He also single authored the book The Political Economy of Contract Farming in Zimbabwe (2022). Freedom has also researched with the Sam Moyo African Institute of Agrarian Studies in Harare.

Walter Chambati

Walter Chambati is Executive Director, Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies, Harare, Zimbabwe, and Research Fellow, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa. He obtained a PhD in Public Administration from the University of South Africa. Earlier degrees, a BSc. (Hon) in Agriculture (Economics) and Master of Management were awarded by the Universities of Zimbabwe and Witwatersrand. His research mainly examines agrarian transformation in Africa. Recent publications include: Labour Questions in Global South (Springer Press, 2021) and Farming and Working under Contract: Peasants and Workers in Global Agricultural Value Systems (Tulika Press, 2022).