Making Land Work for the Poor in Post Crisis Zimbabwe

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Admos Chimhowu highlights the need for land redistribution in Zimbabwe Presented at 'Moving Forward with Pro-poor Reconstruction in Zimbabwe' International Conference, Harare, Zimbabwe, (25 and 26 August 2009)

Transcript of Making Land Work for the Poor in Post Crisis Zimbabwe

Page 1: Making Land Work for the Poor in Post Crisis Zimbabwe
Page 2: Making Land Work for the Poor in Post Crisis Zimbabwe

Of Land Poverty and Inequality� To the extent that its done well there are both economic

and political justifications for a fairer distribution of land

� Evidence that countries with better distribution of assets like land tend to record significantly better rates of growth than those with skewed patterns

� Initial asset inequality hurts the poor through credit-rationing and limited investment ability

� More equal distribution of land has multiplier effects that have been observed to enhance income growth

� General view in the literature supporting the idea that low levels of income and asset inequality are beneficial for poverty reduction

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Reform Type Narrative Poverty Effects

LandRedistribution

The poor lack productive assets and need to own or securely access land to make a living.

When able to use land andall else works increased access can improve farm incomes

Tenure Reform The poor have insecure access and ownership rights and are reluctant invest in land.

Establishing secure group or individual tenure (communal or freehold) will accord them security and confidence to invest in land.

Farm Reorganisation Unviable plots limit production and participation in commodity markets.

Consolidating fragmented plots or reorganising land use can increase available land or present new opportunities for increasing the productivity of labour and land.

Administrative Reforms Land conflicts and loss of land by the poor is often

Modernizing and decentralising records

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Of Land and Poverty.....� Key determinant of whether a household is able to

make a living and stay out of poverty in rural Zimbabwe is access to adequate stocks of assets, built around access to and ownership of land

� Also availability of, and ability to ability to pursue opportunities for income and consumption smoothing

� Non-farm, off-farm , non-agricultural activities whose availability is determined by agriculture trends-positive correlation between availability of non-farm jobs and agricultural performance

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Of Land and Poverty in Zimbabwe� Two key issues generally dominate any discussion on

land and poverty in Zimbabwe. These are land redistribution and tenure reforms

� Until the Fast Track Land Reform programme of 2000-2003, land was divided unequally between races.

� legacy of colonial occupation and the subsequent land alienation attendant to settler colonialism

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Land use Group

1980 2004

Hectares(million)

Hectares(million)

Smallholder(communal Resettlement and A1)

14.4 24.34

Small to Medium Scale Commercial

1.4 2.83

Large Scale Commercial 15.5 3

Corporate Estates 2.04

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Unfinished business� Unequal tenure systems creates second class citizens-

discrimination against communal farmers under the banner of custom: note this is a question of grades of citizenship different from a security of tenure argument

� 800,000 plus smallholders occupying some 14 million hectares of land under communal tenure, while on the other are nearly 320,000 resettled households occupying land on conditions that are obviously more favourable

� Communal tenure inconsistently applied and understood

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Unfinished business� Replanning A1 Units

� 141,000 beneficiaries resettled on A1 units lack basic social services and infrastructure since most of the large scale commercial farming areas did not have social infrastructure.

� Can affect their ability to utilise the land they received through the programme.

� Should be ‘replanned’ along the lines of the old ‘accelerated’ resettlement programme of the 1980s as new settlement projects with full costing for social and physical infrastructure.

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Unfinished business� From the 1980s we know that it can cost up to

US$12,000 per farm to provide the basic infrastructure, training and initial input support needed for a typical agricultural settlement. To support the 141,000 A1 beneficiaries would require an investment close to US$1.69 billion.

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Land Audit� Utete and Buka Reports raised issues of multiple farm

ownership under A2 schemes

� Questions of uptake

� Reallocate underutilised land, perhaps to those with farming expertise who are looking for land to get back into farming under the new terms and conditions.

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Compensation fund � For former owners linked to measures to prevent

capital flight- should this be in the form of tax breaks funded through the treasury?

� Could donors match state c commitments?

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