Abstract
In countries where the emphasis has been on import-substituting industrialisation, the terms of trade of rural versus urban areas have declined. As argued in Chapter 4, discrimination against agriculture in Rhodesia was probably less than in most other countries pursuing ISI. Nevertheless, incentives were to some degree skewed towards manufacturing. One might therefore expect farmers to argue for liberalisation, and manufacturing industry to be opposed. In Chapter 7, we discovered the reasons why the latter is not the case in Zimbabwe. In this chapter, we will see why a significant part of the agricultural sector favours administrative control of prices and parastatal marketing monopolies, even when this entails lower real farmgate prices. The historical distribution of land between the races is key to understanding this issue.
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Notes
Robert H. Bates, Markets and States in Tropical Africa (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1981).
National Farmers’ Association of Zimbabwe, Progress Report Five Years On, 1980–1986 (Harare: The NFAZ, 1986), p. 3.
See, for instance, Michael Bratton, ‘The Comrades and the Countryside: The Politics of Agricultural Policy in Zimbabwe’, World Politics 39, 2 (January 1987), pp. 174–202
Tor Skâlnes, ‘Group Interests and the State: an Explanation of Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Policies’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 27, 1 (March 1989), pp. 85–107.
Jeffrey Herbst, State Politics in Zimbabwe (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1990), Chapters three and five.
World Bank, Zimbabwe: Agriculture Sector Memorandum, Vol. II (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 1991), p. 21.
Michael Bratton, ‘Ten Years After: Land Redistribution in Zimbabwe, 1980–1990’, in Roy L. Prosterman, Mary N. Temple and Timothy M. Hanstad, eds, Agrarian Reform and Grassroots Development (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1990), pp. 265–91 at p. 271.
Sam Moyo, ‘The Land Question’, in Ibbo Mandaza, ed., Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980–1986 (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1986), pp. 165–201 at p. 184, table 11(a).
Government of Zimbabwe, Budget Statement, 1989 (Harare: Government Printer, 1989), p. 6.
Rhodesia National Farmers’ Union, Annual Congress Report, 1964 (Salisbury: RNFU, 1964), pp. 15–16.
Government of Zimbabwe, Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Agricultural Industry under the Chairmanship of Professor G.G. Chavunduka (Harare: Government Printer, 1982), p. 66.
See, for instance, B.H. Kinsey, ‘Emerging Policy Issues in Zimbabwe’s Land Resettlement Programmes’, Development Policy Review 1, 2 (November 1983), pp. 163–96.
Dan Weiner et al., ‘Land Use and Agricultural Productivity in Zimbabwe’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 23, 2 (June 1985), pp. 251–85 at pp. 269–70.
See Kinsey, ‘Emerging Policy Issues’; Barry Munslow, ‘Prospects for the Socialist Transition of Agriculture in Zimbabwe’, World Development 13, 1 (January 1985), pp. 41–58;
John Cusworth, ‘Institutions, Projects and Farmers — Some Issues Arising from the Land Resettlement Programme in Zimbabwe’, International Journal of Public Sector Management 2, 3 (1989), pp. 5–14.
The legal issues involved are clarified in Gino J. Naldi, ‘Land Reform in Zimbabwe: Some Legal Aspects’, The Journal of Modern African Studies 31, 4 (1993), pp. 585–600.
Commercial Farmers’ Union, Proposal for Land Reform for Zimbabwe, 1991 (Harare: The CFU, 1991).
Anne M. Thomson, ‘Zimbabwe’, in Charles Harvey, ed., Agricultural Pricing Policy in Africa (London and Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 187–219 at p. 197.
Andrew Rukovo et al., ‘The Profile of Agricultural Protection in Zimbabwe’, Southern Africa Foundation for Economic Research, Harare, 1991, pp. 18, 37.
Government of Zimbabwe, Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Parastatals under the Chairmanship of Mr. Justice L.G. Smith: AMA, CSC, CMB, DMB, GMB (Harare: Government Printer, 1988).
CFU views are recorded in Commercial Farmers’ Union, 46th Annual Congress Report, 1989 (Harare: The CFU, 1989), p. 69 and Sunday Mail 5 May 1991, p. 8; the NFAZ position in The Herald, 27 April 1991, p. 1.
World Bank, World Development Report 1991 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 210, table 4.
Economist Intelligence Unit, Zimbabwe Country Report, 4th quarter 1993 (London: EIU, 1993), p. 18.
CFU Deputy Director J.L. Grant, ‘Viability, Availability and Security of Agriculture and Its Prospects under the Structural Adjustment Programme’, paper presented to the Commercial Farmers’ Union Annual Congress, 7–8 August 1991.
Commercial Farmers’ Union, 39th Annual Congress Report, 1982 (Harare: The CFU, 1982), pp. 25–6.
Urban consumers and smallholder farmers who are net buyers of maize would gain. See William A. Masters and Ernst-August Nuppenau, ‘Panterritorial Versus Regional Pricing for Maize in Zimbabwe’, World Development 21, 10 (1993), pp. 1647–58;
T.S. Jayne and Ernst-August Nuppenau, ‘Maize Market Reform in Zimbabwe’, Food Policy 18, 4 (1993), pp. 308–15.
Economist Intelligence Unit, Zimbabwe Country Report 3rd quarter 1994 (London: EIU, 1994), p. 15; EIU, Zimbabwe Country Report 4/93, p. 18.
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© 1995 Tor Skålnes
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Skålnes, T. (1995). Agricultural Land, Pricing and Marketing Reforms. In: The Politics of Economic Reform in Zimbabwe. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13766-4_8
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