Zimbabwe - Overseas Development Institute

paid for by higher domestic food p r i c e s v i s - a - v i s imported a l t e r ­
n a t i v e s . More r e c e n t l y t h i s conclusion has been confirmed by the
World Bank's I n d u s t r i a l Sector Study of Zimbabwe which for mid-
1986 p r i c e s found that food products i n Harare were about 45%
lower than i n Washington DC.
In summary, then, the expansion of the f o o d s t u f f s sub-sector
has occurred broadly i n l i n e with increases i n domestic demand
and with the o p p o r t u n i t i e s presented by the changing s t r u c t u r e of
the a g r i c u l t u r a l sector, leading both to a reduction i n imported
f i n a l products and to the f u r t h e r processing of a wider range of
crops and l i v e s t o c k . I t was l a r g e l y these f a c t o r s rather than
any change i n the macro-context of p r o t e c t i o n which appeared to
have been of most importance to the growth of the sub-sector.
But why, i t needs to be asked, was export performance so
miserable and what i n h i b i t e d f u r t h e r export expansion?
Table 13
Comparative Advantage Indicators for Foodstuffs Sub-sector, 1982 Data.
Share
of Value DRC
Branch of Sub-sector Added DRC S/run DRC Range (if given)
Slaught/process.of meat 33 0.69 0. .55
Grain, animal feeds 2B 1.03 0, ,83 0.53 to 1.14
Bakery products 5 0.70 0, .56
Dairy products 14 1.11 0, ,89
Sugar i confectionery pdcts 10 0.83 0. ,66 0.72 to 1.95
Other food products 10 0.74 0. 59
ALL FOODSTUFFS 100 0.88 0. ,70
Source: Jansen (1983,1: 48-67, 11:34).
At a general l e v e l there would appear to have been a number
of f a c t o r s at work. F i r s t , the progressive and consistent
expansion of domestic demand probably provided an i n c r e a s i n g l y
s u f f i c i e n t market for the firms involved i n food manufacturing,
the high r a t i o of food exports to gross output i n the l a t e 1930s
i n part being explained by the small absolute numbers involved'".
Thus the move away from exports by no means represented a loss of
export demand but rather the switch i n demand to an ever-growing,
c l o s e r domestic market". I t was p a r t l y f o r t h i s reason that i n
Zimbabwe f o r at l e a s t three decades there has been very l i t t l e
" t r a d i t i o n " of exporting among food producers, i n marked con-