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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Zimbabwe's Smallholder Agriculture Miracle
Author:Mabeza-Chimedza, RuvimboISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Food Policy
Volume:23
Issue:6
Period:December
Pages:529-537
Language:English
Geographic term:Zimbabwe
Subjects:agricultural productivity
small farms
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
External link:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-9192(98)00060-8
Abstract:In 1981, the first harvest after Zimbabwe became independent, small farmers truly performed a miracle. Their output and yields for most of the major crops increased significantly. By 1993 the smallholder sector accounted for 33.1 percent of the total value of crop production, compared with less than 10 percent in 1980. When people talk of agricultural miracles, it is normally in terms of increases in output due to increased yields. Zimbabwe's miracle encompassed both increase in yields, increase in total output and increase in total value. Improvements in each category are explicable by a combination of factors, some of which overlap. A lot of credit goes to support from agricultural institutions such as extension, research and marketing, which helped increase yields; but a large portion of the miracle should be attributed to expansion in the area under cultivation and increase in the numbers of people cultivating. The role of NGOs, private sector and farmer organizations was also a major factor. Ref., sum.
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