Zimbabwe - Overseas Development Institute

paper and packaging (1%); f e r t i l i z e r s and crop chemicals (54%),
machinery (11%) and transport equipment (3%)iz2_
Table 15.
The Supply of Material Inputs To The Agricultural Sector
1965 1975 1981/82
Percent of Inputs provided
by the Manufacturing Sector' 42 43 48
Percent of Inputs Directly
imported^ 9 7.5 10.4
Inputs from Manufacturing
to Agriculture as a
percentage of total 3 6 7
Manufacturing Output
Notes: 1. The data for 1981/82 do not refer to capital purchases
by the Agricultural Sector.
2. The data in this row are broadly consistent with those
of Muir for the period 1966 to 1979.
Source: as for Table 14 and Muir (1981).
The data on trends i n the r e l a t i v e shares of inputs sourced
from imports and domestic i n d u s t r y are of l i m i t e d value because
they capture only the d i r e c t and f i n a l t r a n s a c t i o n s , thus f a i l i n g
to encompass the i n d i r e c t import component of domestically
manufactured products. For instance i n the case of crop chemic
a l s , almost a l l of the d o m e s t i c a l l y "manufactured" products
c o n s i s t of simple formulation and packaging of imports, t h e i r
import content being w e l l i n excess of 70% of t h e i r domestic
s e l l i n g p r i c e . A more complete (although s t i l l l e s s than f u l l y
accurate) p i c t u r e of t h i s aspect of a g r o - i n d u s t r i a l linkages can
be obtained by l o o k i n g i n more d e t a i l at the supply of and demand
f o r the key m a t e r i a l inputs required by the a g r i c u l t u r a l sector.
These would include the f o l l o w i n g : f e r t i l i z e r s , crop chemicals,
a g r i c u l t u r a l t o o l s and implements i n c l u d i n g t r a c t o r s and packagi
n g m a t e r i a l s .
Table 16 shows the t o t a l m a t e r i a l input purchases made by
the a g r i c u l t u r a l sector i n 1984 sub-divided i n t o the commercial
and other ( l a r g e l y communal) s u b - d i v i s i o n s of a g r i c u l t u r e . In
terms of value, f e r t i l i z e r s and stockfeeds dominate t o t a l
m a t e r i a l supply purchases, accounting f o r 85% of t o t a l m a t e r i a l
inputs. Sub-dividing a g r i c u l t u r e i n t o two, however, produces
some marked v a r i a t i o n s . The commercial sector purchased 83% of
a l l input purchases i n 1984, the remainder j u s t 17%. Although
t h i s d i f f e r e n c e i s c l e a r l y very great, i t has narrowed considerably,
e s p e c i a l l y since Independence; f o r instance i n 1976,