Achim Blume (1996): Land Tenure in Rural Zimbabwe

1.4 The Large Scale Commercial Areas (LSCAs)

Prior to Independence this sector comprised about 10,000 large-scale farms run by white farmers who carried out intensive agriculture using modern farming methods. During the Eighties and the early Nineties these were joined by a small number of black large-scale farmers. Nevertheless the total number of these large-scale operations has roughly halved since Independence. This is related to the mass emigration of white farmers in the early Eighties, but also to the Resettlement Program started in 1982 which will be considered in more detail in the following section.

The remaining large-scale farmers, numbering about 5,000, have farms with an average size of about 2,200 hectares in the most-favoured agro-ecological areas. They are commercially-oriented and produce for both the domestic and export markets. Nevertheless their economic importance is greater as far as exports are concerned. Through its principal crops of tobacco, cotton, wheat, maize, tea and coffee, the sector is responsible for 68% of gross agricultural output and 86% of export earnings from agricultural production (von Blanckenburg 1992:166).

The economic success of the large-scale farms is predominantly due to the provision of massive state support before Independence. Marketing and pricing policy were geared to the needs of the large-scale farms, while African farmers were not allowed to market their produce through the state marketing boards; the State added to this favourable treatment by subsidising important inputs (agricultural technology, fertilisers, capital). By exploiting cheap African labour, the farms were able to build a secure economic foundation for themselves which was reflected in factors such as relatively high productivity ratios. Today the large-scale farmers still benefit from their acquired expertise on input procurement and marketing, but also from having superior farmland.

The majority of large-scale farms are still freeholds today. There are also a smaller number of leased farms which are owned by the State. Since Independence the LSCAs have suffered from the fact that they symbolise the inequality of colonial land distribution. As a result the large-scale farms are at the centre of the debate about redistribution in Zimbabwe which continues to be right at the top of the political agenda. In addition to the classic arguments in favour of land reform based upon social justice and equity, economic arguments are also repeatedly put forward. Most of these relate to a notion that many large-scale farms are underutilised, which is strongly disputed among the interest groups involved (CFU, ZFU, etc.); the issues under debate include microeconomic considerations of the optimum farm size. This theory continues to be put forward by various interest groups in the context of the political debate surrounding the Resettlement Program which began in 1980. The Program’s objectives, implementation and problems relating to its realisation are considered in the following section.