Across the country, the formal
land re-allocation since 2000 has
resulted in the transfer of land to
nearly 170,000 households by
2011. If the ‘informal’ settlements,
outside the official ‘fast-track’
programme are added, the totals
are even larger. Two main
‘models’ have been at the centre
of the process - one focused on
smallholder production (socalled A1 schemes, either as
villagised arrangements or small,
self-contained farms) and one
focused on commercial
production at a slightly larger
scale (so-called A2 farms). In
practice, the distinction between
these models varies considerably,
and there is much overlap.
Events since 2000 have thus
resulted in a radical change in
the nation’s agrarian structure. At
Independence in 1980, over 15m
hectares was devoted to largescale commercial farming,
comprising around 6,000
farmers, nearly all of them white.
This fell to around 12m hectares
by 1999, in part through a
modest, but in many ways
successful, land reform and
resettlement programme, largely
funded by the British
government under the terms of
the Lancaster House
agreement33+.
The Fast Track Land Reform
Programme, begun in 2000,
allocated to new farmers over
4,500 farms making up 7.6m
hectares, 20% of the total land
area of the country, according to
(admittedly rough) official
figures. In 2008-09 this
represented over 145,000 farm
households in A1 schemes and
around 16500 further
households occupying A2 plots
smaller-scale farms focusing on
mixed farming, often with low
levels of capitalisation. In
Masvingo province, the new
resettlements cover 28% of the
land area, with 1.2 million
hectares being small-scale A1
settlements, while a further
371,500 hectares are devoted to
A2 farms. Although there is much
variation, the average size of new
A2 farms is 318 hectares, while
that of A1 family farms is 37
hectares, including crop and
grazing land.
Overall there has been a
significant shift to many more,
Changes in the national distribution of land, 1980-2010
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Source: derived from various government sources and compiled by the
African Institute of Agrarian Studies * includes all large commercial farms,
agro-industrial estate farms, church/trust farms, BIPPA farms and
conservancies.
2