AbstractsEconomics

Abstract

The research aimed to investigate and give an understanding of diversity of the farming activities of the beneficiaries of the land reform programme in Chegutu District (Ward 12). The farmers were resettled under both the A1 villagised model and the A2 large scale commercial farming model. The generalised models of A1 and A2 as given by the Government of Zimbabwe do not really characterise the farming and other activities undertaken by beneficiaries of the land reform programme, the study aimed to understand the diversity of the farming activities and hence put the farmers into groups or types as defined by their practices. Diversity in this context means the variation of farming activities of the farmers in the study area. Based on specific parameters, farmers were put in categories/types thereby giving meaning to the diversity of farming activities in the area. The parameters/variables that were used include age of the farmer, the gender of the farmer, the year the farmer was allocated the plot, quality of home infrastructure, the livestock owned, crops produced, the hectarage under each crop and the quantities produced. The other variables that were considered are job status of the plot/farm owner (whether the plot owner have a salaried job or not), the head of the farming activities on the plot/farm and whether the farmer is farming under irrigation or dry land. These parameters, one way or the other, interact with each other thereby influencing the farmer to make decisions that will eventually determine the type of farmer he or she becomes. An attempt was also made to do an economic analysis to assess the profitability of each type of farmers farming operations. By definition, profitability measures the difference between revenue and costs. Revenue is a product of price and quantities of commodities produced while costs are calculated from input quantities and input prices. The hypotheses that were tested are that: There is diversity of farming activities amongst the beneficiaries of the Zimbabwe Land Reform Programme in the study area. The farmers in the study area are farming profitably. The main reason for undertaking the study in the area was that after the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), there was need to understand the dynamics with regard to agricultural production among the farmers. Understanding the diversity of farming activities would then inform policy or intervention strategies to be undertaken in support of the beneficiaries of land reform programme. The other reason why the study area was chosen was because the student is a plot holder in the area and therefore an interested part, in addition to that, general observation points to the likelihood of existence of diversity amongst the farming activities in the area and hence the reason to undertake the study in the area. The administrative, traditional and political authorities were approached to get the authorisation to carry out the study in the area. Random interviews were done as a way of pre-testing the questionnaire and some… Advisors/Committee Members: Anseeuw, Ward, 1974- (advisor), Rugube, Lovemore (advisor).