The Political Economy of Contract Farming in Zimbabwe

Freedom Mazwi examines patterns of agricultural finance in Zimbabwe since the radical Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme (FTLRP) was implemented in 2000―and, especially, the varying impact that the FTLRP reforms have had not only on land use, but also on the well-being of farmers.

Focusing on contract farming in the tobacco and sugarcane sectors, Mazwi offers penetrating insights into social contradictions and power relations in Zimbabwe's rural areas. He also assesses the institutional finance mechanisms that have emerged in response to the radical land reforms and reflects on the related political and economic isolation of the country since 2000. Not least, he suggests how agrarian policy could be restructured to better benefit small-scale farmers.
CONTENTS:
* Land Reform and the Agrarian Finance Crisis in Zimbabwe.
* Changing Patterns of Agricultural Finance in Zimbabwe: Social Exclusion and Innovation by the Peasantry.
* Global Architecture and the Incorporation of the Peasantry.
* Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Peasantry Under Tobacco Contract Farming in Zimbabwe.
* Differentiation Among Tobacco Growers in Raffingora.
* The Subsumption of Sugar Outgrowers by Capital in Hippo Valley.
* Adverse Incorporation and Accelerated Social Differentiation in Hippo Valley.
* Conclusion: Towards an Autonomous Development Path.