Resettlement revisited: land reform results in resource-poor regions in Zimbabwe

The land issue in Zimbabwe - in particular the land invasions and confiscations - is currently commanding international attention. However, ever since the introduction of land reform in the country, the land policy and its effects have been under debate in Zimbabwe itself. Much of the discussion has focused on the land reform programmes' impact on total agricultural output on the one hand, and the incidence of rural poverty on the other. This paper is largely based on primary data collected recently in one of the resource-poor regions of the country (Insiza District) among 377 households - squatter households included - in communal and resettlement areas. After the presentation of some background material, data on the production conditions, the productivity of arable land resources and the level and composition of income are analysed. This analysis shows that the overall impact of resettlement on agricultural production and rural poverty is positive. Resettled households are mostly able to obtain higher output and income levels than households living in the communal areas. Squatters living in or near the resettlement schemes turn out to realise the same income level as households in the communal areas. At the same time however, there are clear indications that internal and external pressures on the natural resources in the resettlement schemes are increasing. A considerable part of these pressures is a consequence of squatting. Although formal policy still does not allow any squatting, not even by children of settlers, the research findings show that this phenomenon has become a fact of life. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.