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Fast Track Land Reform and Agricultural Productivity in Zimbabwe

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  • Zikhali, Precious

Abstract

In the year 2000, the government of Zimbabwe launched the Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) as part of its ongoing land reform and resettlement program. It seeks to address the racially skewed land distribution pattern inherited at independence in 1980. This paper used data on beneficiaries of the program and a control group of communal farmers to investigate the program’s impact on the agricultural productivity of its beneficiaries. The data revealed significant differences between the two groups, not only in household and parcel characteristics, but also in input usage. The results suggest that FTLRP beneficiaries are more productive than communal farmers. The source of this productivity differential was found to lie in differences in input usage. In addition, we found that FTLRP beneficiaries gained a productivity advantage not only from the fact that they used more fertilizer per hectare, but also from attaining a higher rate of return from its use. Furthermore we found evidence that soil conservation, among other factors, had a significant impact on productivity. Our results also confirmed the constraints imposed on agricultural productivity by poverty, suggesting that policies aimed at alleviating poverty will have a positive impact on agricultural productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Zikhali, Precious, 2008. "Fast Track Land Reform and Agricultural Productivity in Zimbabwe," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-30-efd, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-08-30-efd
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    Cited by:

    1. Million Sileshi & Reuben Kadigi & Khamaldin Mutabazi & Stefan Sieber, 2019. "Impact of soil and water conservation practices on household vulnerability to food insecurity in eastern Ethiopia: endogenous switching regression and propensity score matching approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 11(4), pages 797-815, August.
    2. Raynold Runganga & Winnie Njoroge & Syden Mishi, 2022. "Restoration of Land Acquired for Resettlement and the Fast-Track Land Reform Programme in Zimbabwe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Menale Kassie & Precious Zikhali & John Pender & Gunnar Köhlin, 2010. "The Economics of Sustainable Land Management Practices in the Ethiopian Highlands," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 605-627, September.
    4. Chisango, Future Fortune T. & Obi, Ajuruchukwu, 2010. "Efficiency Effects Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Mechanization and Fast Track Land Reform Programme: A Stochastic Frontier Approach," 2010 AAAE Third Conference/AEASA 48th Conference, September 19-23, 2010, Cape Town, South Africa 97066, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    5. Yonas T. Bahta & Henry Jordaan & Gunda Sabastain, 2020. "Agricultural Management Practices and Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency in Zimbabwe Maize Farming," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Harshana PVS, 2019. "Analysis of Satisfaction of Small Cucumber Contract Famers in Predominantly Agriculture areas in Sri Lanka," Annals of Social Sciences & Management studies, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 2(4), pages 92-99, January.
    7. Obi, Ajuruchukwu & Chisango, Future Fortune T., 2011. "Performance of Smallholder Agriculture Under Limited Mechanization and the Fast Track Land Reform Program in Zimbabwe," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 14(4), pages 1-20, November.
    8. Kassie, Girma T. & Abdulai, Awudu & Greene, William H. & Shiferaw, Bekele & Abate, Tsedeke & Tarekegne, Amsal & Sutcliffe, Chloe, 2017. "Modeling Preference and Willingness to Pay for Drought Tolerance (DT) in Maize in Rural Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 465-477.
    9. Bangwayo-Skeete, Prosper F. & Bezabih, Mintewab & Zikhali, Precious, 2010. "Are Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Farms more Technically Efficient than Communal Farms?," Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, Humboldt-Universitaat zu Berlin, vol. 49(4), pages 1-21.
    10. Campus, Daniela, 2017. "Gender differentials in agricultural productivity: an empirical evidence from Uganda," 2017 Sixth AIEAA Conference, June 15-16, Piacenza, Italy 261259, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    11. Zikhali, Precious, 2008. "Tenure Security and Investments: Micro-evidence from Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme," Working Papers in Economics 321, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    12. Precious Zikhali, 2010. "Fast Track Land Reform Programme, tenure security and investments in soil conservation: Micro‐evidence from Mazowe District in Zimbabwe," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 34(2), pages 124-139, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Land reform; agricultural productivity; Zimbabwe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q15 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land Use; Irrigation; Agriculture and Environment
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy

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