Moving forward in Zimbabwe - Brooks World Poverty Institute - The ...
Moving forward in Zimbabwe - Brooks World Poverty Institute - The ...
Moving forward in Zimbabwe - Brooks World Poverty Institute - The ...
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<strong>Mov<strong>in</strong>g</strong> <strong>forward</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Zimbabwe</strong><br />
Reduc<strong>in</strong>g poverty and promot<strong>in</strong>g growth<br />
agricultural production growth has not kept pace with population<br />
growth. In addition, it is clear that the crisis has caused a severe<br />
decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> <strong>Zimbabwe</strong>an agriculture and the rural economy <strong>in</strong><br />
general. Key causes of this decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong>clude:<br />
• Collapse <strong>in</strong> agricultural commodity market<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
pric<strong>in</strong>g. <strong>The</strong> hyper-<strong>in</strong>flation environment (231 million per<br />
cent) gravely affected returns on agriculture – a factor that<br />
is not lost even on the illiterate farmers. This has meant that<br />
most people who used to produce for the formal market are<br />
reluctant to do so as the delays <strong>in</strong> process<strong>in</strong>g payments mean<br />
that by the time they are paid the money is worth noth<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Households that used to produce for the markets have<br />
stopped and produce mostly food crops for subsistence.<br />
• Asset attrition. <strong>The</strong> protracted decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> the economy s<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
2000 has also resulted <strong>in</strong> asset attrition as households sell<br />
off assets as a consumption smooth<strong>in</strong>g strategy. This often<br />
means sell<strong>in</strong>g off liquid assets that are also necessary for<br />
agricultural production. A decl<strong>in</strong>e <strong>in</strong> cattle numbers has been<br />
particularly obvious <strong>in</strong> some areas although <strong>in</strong> other areas the<br />
crisis has actually seen an <strong>in</strong>crease (Mavedzenge et al 2008).<br />
Lack of cattle underm<strong>in</strong>es availability of draught power and<br />
also compromises <strong>in</strong>come and consumption smooth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
strategies.<br />
• Labour shortage. <strong>The</strong>re is a basic assumption of labour<br />
abundance <strong>in</strong> rural <strong>Zimbabwe</strong> ow<strong>in</strong>g to displacement<br />
of former commercial farm workers. Available evidence<br />
suggests that apart from migration of the able bodied, an<br />
<strong>in</strong>ability to hire labour by the smallholder farmers means that<br />
labour shortage is a limit<strong>in</strong>g factor on production. Most able<br />
bodied young adults that provided family labour have either<br />
left rural <strong>Zimbabwe</strong> for other countries <strong>in</strong> the region or have<br />
opted for non-farm rural activities like artisanal m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g. This<br />
has created labour constra<strong>in</strong>ts on production at the family<br />
farm. <strong>The</strong> lack of skills has become a limit<strong>in</strong>g factor. As<br />
experienced and tra<strong>in</strong>ed smallholder farmers have been dy<strong>in</strong>g<br />
off due to old age and HIV/AIDS the agricultural skills base<br />
has been underm<strong>in</strong>ed significantly.<br />
• Decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g soil fertility. Initial productivity <strong>in</strong>creases <strong>in</strong><br />
communal lands after the war could be accounted for by the<br />
virg<strong>in</strong> land effect. Once soil fertility decl<strong>in</strong>ed due to use over<br />
time the high external <strong>in</strong>puts model of production (hybrid<br />
seeds and fertiliser) that was <strong>in</strong>troduced has become too<br />
expensive to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>, especially given decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g profitability<br />
due to poor pric<strong>in</strong>g structure and lack of state support.<br />
• Dry<strong>in</strong>g out of private f<strong>in</strong>ance for agriculture. Once<br />
the state stopped support<strong>in</strong>g the smallholder farmers with<br />
<strong>in</strong>puts, most became <strong>in</strong>debted and failed to secure private<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ance needed for <strong>in</strong>puts. It is quite clear that dur<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
years follow<strong>in</strong>g a drought when some free <strong>in</strong>puts were made<br />
available there was always a productivity spike, especially <strong>in</strong><br />
food crops like maize. In the post-2000 period the demise of<br />
commercial farm<strong>in</strong>g that used to provide bridg<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>come for<br />
<strong>in</strong>puts among resettled farmers has worsened the situation.<br />
Before the demise of large scale commercial farm<strong>in</strong>g some<br />
smallholder farmers could seek temporary employment on<br />
farms and used this to purchase <strong>in</strong>puts. Others relied on<br />
urban formal employment to generate the <strong>in</strong>puts. Once<br />
the large-scale farms were taken over dur<strong>in</strong>g the post-2000<br />
<strong>in</strong>vasions and the formal sector jobs began to decl<strong>in</strong>e due to<br />
the deteriorat<strong>in</strong>g economy this <strong>in</strong>come smooth<strong>in</strong>g strategy<br />
was no longer available.<br />
• Insecure tenure. Even if private f<strong>in</strong>anc<strong>in</strong>g was still<br />
available, the terms under which land is accessed rema<strong>in</strong>s<br />
one of the key limit<strong>in</strong>g factors. It is clear that apart from<br />
the state and agricultural commodity brokers, f<strong>in</strong>ancial<br />
<strong>in</strong>stitutions did not extend credit facilities to the resettled<br />
and communal farmers due to lack of tenure security. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
stopped support<strong>in</strong>g large scale commercial farmers once the<br />
land <strong>in</strong>vasions started. <strong>The</strong> productivity effects of this and<br />
all the above are apparent when we take a look at what has<br />
happened to maize production.<br />
A look at the maize yields (Figure 3.1) shows that average maize<br />
yields for communal smallholders rema<strong>in</strong> low – below one tonne<br />
per hectare s<strong>in</strong>ce 2000 despite the sector hav<strong>in</strong>g registered an<br />
average yield of 1.5 tons per hectare <strong>in</strong> the 1990s. While total maize<br />
Figure 3.1: Maize yields by farm type.<br />
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