Zimbabwe's Fast Track Land Reform

Prosper B. Matondi

• Publisher: Zed Books
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781780321509
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Economics

The Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe has emerged as a highly contested reform process both nationally and internationally. The image of it has all too often been that of the widespread displacement and subsequent replacement of various people, agricultural-related production systems, facets and processes. The reality, however, is altogether more complex. Providing new and much-needed empirical research, this in-depth book examines how processes such as land acquisition, allocation, transitional production outcomes, social life, gender and tenure, have influenced and been influenced by the forces driving the programme. It also explores the ways in which the land reform programme has created a new agrarian structure based on small- to medium-scale farmers. In attempting to resolve the problematic issues the reforms have raised, the author argues that it is this new agrarian formation which provides the greatest scope for improving Zimbabwe's agriculture and development. Based on a broader geographical scope than any previous study carried out on the subject, this is a landmark work on a subject of considerable controversy.

Table of contents

• AfricaNow
• About the author
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of contents
• Figures, tables and boxes
• Abbreviations
• Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Map: Zimbabwe’s agro-ecological zones with study sites
• 1 | Understanding Fast Track Land Reforms in Zimbabwe
• 2 | Land occupations as the trigger for compulsory land acquisition
• 3 | Interrogating land allocation
• 4 | Juggling land ownership rights in uncertain times
• 5 | Complexities in understanding agricultural production outcomes
• 6 | Access to services and farm-level investments on Fast Track Farms
• 7 | A revolution without change in women’s land rights
• 8 | Social organisation and reconstruction of communities on Fast Track Farms
• Conclusion: from a ‘crisis’ to a ‘prosperous’ future?
• Notes
• References
• Index