In the Shadow of a Conflict: Impacts of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform on Rural Poverty and Development in Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia

Project Researchers:	Philani Zamchiya & Ruth Hall (South Africa) Bill Derman (Noragric & University of Michigan) Anne Hellum (Law Faculty, University of Oslo)

Duration:	2007 - 2009

Objectives:	To record and analyse the narratives of migrant farmers and farm workers in order to understand how they view the events that led them to leave Zimbabwe and why they chose their particular destinations. This objective includes new considerations of how they view themselves in terms of citizenship and levels of identity. To assess how they entered their new communities, how they established themselves, and how they have been treated and regarded by their new hosts at various levels including national, regional and local ones. To determine and analyse impacts of the migration on recipient communities with respect to agricultural production, labour markets, access to land, and community conflicts. To assess the impacts of Zimbabwean land reform upon white farmers and black farm workers in South Africa. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of large-scale commercial farming in the context of race, citizenship, labour patterns, food insecurity and land pressures. To assess changes in patterns of use and ownership of land from a gender perspective.

Scope:	The South African component of the study, for which PLAAS is responsible, focuses on the region north of the Soutpansberg mountains in Limpopo province, which historically has been a major recipient area for migrant labour. The study therefore looks at both older and newer patterns of migration, and how these have interacted with existing labour, land and livelihood conflicts on commercial farms and in communal areas.

Methods:	Communities in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zambia will be selected on the basis of the density of migrant farmers and farm workers received from Zimbabwe. Field methods will, first, involve in-depth interviews with migrant farmers and farm workers located within these recipient communities. In addition to in-depth interviews with migrants, interviews will be conducted with local community leaders, local government officials, extension workers, and local farmers (both smallholders and established commercial farmers). We will carry out semi-structured interviews with South African farm owners and farm workers examining their understandings and responses to the migrants and how these have affected there own activities and strategies. Finally, a formal household survey will be employed to compare the performance of newly settled farmers with established commercial farmers and smallholders in the recipient communities. The survey will focus on land development and investments, agricultural productivity, access to finance, profits, and contributions to local employment and associated multiplier effects.

Funders:	Research Council of Norway

PLAAS

In the Shadow of a Conflict: Impacts of Zimbabwe’s Land Reform on Rural Poverty and Development in Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia

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