44 6.3 CHALLENGES The fast track land reform programme (FTLRP) redistributed over 80 percent of former large scale commercial farming (LSCF) farmland, and the racial distribution of access to land has been radically improved, thus redressing a key social and political problem. This process was accompanied in the immediate term by significant losses in production and of capital stock. The outcome has also entailed uneven distribution of land and infrastructure, insecurity of tenure, and the displacement of some ex-farm workers. Government increased its interventions in input, output, financial and foreign exchange markets, alongside increasing inflation and, inputs and forex shortages, resulting in reduced farm profitability of key commodities. The combination of the severe problems resulting from the land distribution program, declining profitability, poor weather, financing and inputs supply constraints and declining external aid, led to reduced cropped area, yields and outputs, and overall agricultural production decline. Agricultural production declined by about 26% between 2000 and 2004. There are two exceptions to these adverse trends: the communal areas, where despite the adverse conditions, production levels have been surprisingly resilient, declining by less than 2.5% in non-drought years and the plantation and export sectors where production has fluctuated at plus or minus 7.0%. The Utete Report and this review show that the implementation of the FTLRP has left much to be desired, and the losses in production, capital stock, and employment have been substantial. Moreover, many intended beneficiary groups have benefited far too little from the land allocation, and decongestion of communal areas is insufficient. Perhaps the most serious problem is that former farm workers have not only been largely left out of the benefits of the land reform, but many have lost their employment, become homeless and destitute. Most agricultural markets and institutions have been seriously weakened as a result of the changes implemented during the FTLRP period. Although new marketing institutions and processes have emerged, their effectiveness has been constrained by policies, resource gaps and weak capacities of some of the farmers. Given the differential capabilities of farmers and the fact that markets are thin in general, the weakest actors have had the least access to the limited agricultural resources and markets. These are mainly people in communal and resettlement areas, and those belonging to vulnerable social groups (HIV and AIDS) affected, women, farm workers, etc). The range of the vulnerable and poor has expanded and food insecurity has been exacerbated by drought and the land transfers. Likewise, agricultural production trends were severely reduced in former LSCF areas because of the land transfers, as well as the effects of government policy, resource gaps and drought, which led to dramatic output and yield declines.