The dynamic entrepreneurialism shown should not be underestimated and represents an important resource to build on. Across our sites, we have small-scale irrigators producing horticultural products for local and regional markets; we have highly successful cotton producers who are generating considerable profits by selling to a wide number of competing private sector companies; we have livestock producers and traders who are developing new value chains for livestock products, linked to butcheries, supermarkets and other outlets; we have traders in wild products often engaged in highly profitable export markets; and we have others who are developing contract farming and joint venture arrangements, for a range of products including wildlife. disadvantageous pricing, have been delivering cane to the mills, as well as other diverse markets, alongside diversification into irrigated horticulture production on their plots. The new farmers are also employing labour. This is often casual, low-paid employment, often of women, but it is an important source of livelihood for many. The new resettlements sites have become a magnet for others, and households on average have grown by around three members since settlement through the in-migration of relatives and labourers. On average, A2 farm households have employed 5.1 permanent workers and regularly employ 7.3 temporary labourers, while those households in A1 schemes and in informal resettlement sites employ on average 0.5 permanent workers and 1.9 We also have an important group temporary labourers. Comparing of sugar producers with A2 plots this level of employment with on the lowveld estates who, very what existed before on the often against the odds due to former cattle ranches, where shortages of inputs, unreliable perhaps one herder was electricity supplies and employed for each 100 animals 13 grazed over 1000ha, the scale of employment generation afforded by the new resettlement farms is considerable. Wherever we look, there is a sense of optimism and future promise amongst many resettlement farmers we have worked with. SM from Mwenezi district commented “We are happier here at resettlement. There is more land, stands are larger and there is no overcrowding. We got good yields this year. I filled two granaries with sorghum. I hope to buy a grinding mill and locate it at my homestead”. Comparing the farming life to other options, PC from Masvingo district observed: “We are not employed but we are getting higher incomes than those at work”. Despite the hardships and difficulties – of which there are many – there is a deep commitment to making the new resettlement enterprises work, but also a relentless plea for more assistance and support.

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