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Title: | Development and differentiation in the post-independence era: continuity or change in ARDA-Sanyati irrigation in Zimbabwe (1980-1990) |
Author: | Nyandoro, Mark |
Year: | 2009 |
Periodical: | African Historical Review |
Volume: | 41 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 51-89 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Zimbabwe |
Subjects: | agricultural development development corporations agricultural policy social history land tenure irrigation cotton rural development |
External link: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17532520902917010 |
Abstract: | Paying attention to elements of continuity or change, this paper analyses how irrigation under the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) - a State agency which manages all the settler or outgrower schemes adjacent to its estates - fostered development and differentiation in the frontier region of Sanyati in north-western Zimbabwe. Government interventionist policies in the Sanyati schemes are examined. The paper argues that the availability of technical, financial and other resources after independence contributed to the cotton boom and an intensified commercialization drive which gave rise to greater forms of differentiation compared with the colonial period. In addition, the paper analyses the tenuous or fragile relationships between the plotholders and the estate. The major bone of contention was the inadequacy of the plots allocated to the farmers and the highly detested lease agreement which hindered accumulation. Inconsistencies with people's aspirations after independence led to a 'crisis of expectations' among those who believed independence would bring more land and no charge (land rent) for utilizing the land. Although various charges impoverished the growers, the paper argues that poverty did not preclude differentiation as distinct categories of resource-rich and resource-poor plotholders emerged in the post-independence era. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited] |