|
|
|
Report on Assessment of the Impact of Land Reform Programme
on Commercial Farm Worker Livelihoods
|
|
| 5. Results: Presentation and Analysis |
| |
5.1 Overview
The situation on commercial farms visited differed from province to province. In some provinces like Manicaland and Mashonaland West provinces the environment was calm with the new settlers co-existing with the farmer and the farm workers. In Mashonaland East and Central, however, the situation is more tense with farm workers being constantly threatened with eviction.
Generally three scenarios were observed from the farms visited. The first scenario involved farms, which have completely stopped operations. The second involved farms, which have scaled down significantly and are in the process of winding operations mostly in the next three months. The third scenario involved farms, which have been operating near normal but have been served section 8 and given 90 days to wind operations.
In Mashonaland East province, the situation is generally confrontational between farm workers and the new settlers. In Chikomba and Wedza districts, in particular, most of the farm have stopped operations (Chikomba with over 90 percent and Wedza 80 percent followed by Marondera and Seke with over 50 percent). Goromonzi was the least affected with about 20 percent of farms in this category.
In Mashonaland West province, on the few farms where new settlers had moved in, the farmers and the settlers co-existed well. Most of the commercial farmers are still staying on their farms, with some even going ahead with preparations for winter cropping. Those who had cropped their land the previous summer were also busy harvesting or preparing their harvest for the market. Although most of the farms were said to have been demarcated, the settlers had not moved in.
No tension between the three parties was apparent on farms where the settlers had moved in. Those of the settlers who had moved in the previous summer and put in a summer crop were busy harvesting their crop. Generally a lot of farm workers are still on the farms.
The environment in Manicaland province was similar to experiences of Mashonaland West in that the settlers have been allocated a certain portion on the farm under mainly the A2 scheme and are not necessarily interfering with the activities on the farm. Most farms have been subdivided to adhere to the new 400-hectare farm size regulation with the effect that most farmers have scaled down and not completely stopped. The natural casualties are the seasonal farm workers who have lost employment but are still staying on the farms.
About ten percent of the farms in this province have shut down with new farmers moving in but have let most of the farm workers stay. Most farm workers indicate they will stay on these farms awaiting resettlement.
In Mashonaland Central, nearly 80 percent of the farm workers have continued to stay on the farms. In Mazowe, Shamva, and Guruve the situation on the ground was found to be quite tense. Most farmers have left and the settlers have moved in but some e workers have remained. The settlers are now threatening the farm workers with eviction. The settlers are increasingly becoming impatient with the farm workers’ continued presence long after the farmers who employed them have left.
In Centenary and parts of Bindura district, where most of the farms have been earmarked for model A2, most of the farmers are still on their farms with their workers. The settlers have occupied about 50 percent of the affected farms in Mt Darwin but the farm workers are still on the farms.
Close to eighty percent of the commercial farmers in Bindura have recently been served with Section 8. Only three percent of the farms have benefited from de-listing.
5.2 Food Security
In Mashonaland East province some farmers who grow maize to feed their workers did not harvest much due to the drought. Some farmers are buying grain from the Grain Marketing Board and selling it to the workers. Unfortunately supplies are inadequate to cover the maize needs of the workers.
In Mashonaland West province the staple food situation on all the farms surveyed was found to be quite critical. Although on some of the farms the farmers had been assisting with subsidised supplies, they had since run out of resources. It was also observed that what made the situation even more critical was the abandonment of maize farming by most farmers. It was, however, encouraging to note that FCTZ is quite active on the ground in Kadoma district where supplementary feeding is well established.
In Manicaland province, the unemployed farm workers are in dire need of food aid because they no longer have any alternative source of income with which to sustain themselves. A few of the farm workers managed to harvest some maize from the pieces of land allocated by the farmers and are making do with that but this will last until June at most.
In Mashonaland Central province, farm workers used to be allocated pieces of land by the commercial farmers. On these, they could practice subsistence farming to supplement their incomes. There were also a few cases of provision of subsidised maize by the farmers before the onset of the land reform programme but these had since stopped. Those farm workers who are still on the farms and are unemployed no longer enjoy either of these privileges. Although the province had a relatively good season, the former workers are desperate for food aid.
The food security situation can be indirectly determined by the following indicators; summer crop planting which includes maize; access to free or subsidised maize meal; access to land for cultivation and, particularly for under 5s, if supplementary feeding was currently taking place.
The following table gives a province-by-province overview of the summer cropping situation on commercial farms affected by land reform.
Table 1: Percent Distribution of Summer Crop Planting by Province
| Province |
Summer crop planted |
Total percent |
| |
Yes |
No |
| Mash West |
48.9 |
51.1 |
100 |
| Mash East |
50.0 |
50.0 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
40.0 |
60.0 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
80.7 |
19.3 |
100 |
| Total |
51.4 |
48.6 |
100 |
Fifty percent of farms surveyed in Mashonaland West and East did not plant summer crop while in Mashonaland Central two thirds of the farms did not plant a summer crop. In Manicaland on the other hand, only 20 percent of the farms surveyed did not plant a summer crop. This confirms the fact that Manicaland was the least affected province.
Where a summer crop was planted, two thirds of the farms included maize, which is a staple food in Zimbabwe.
The following table gives the provincial distribution of availability of subsidised maize meal to farm workers.
Table 2: Percent Distribution of Provision of Subsidised Maize-meal by Province
| Province |
Subsidised maize meal provided |
Total percent |
| |
Never |
Previously |
Currently |
| Mash West |
27.6 |
30.6 |
41.8 |
100 |
| Mash East |
50.0 |
34.6 |
15.4 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
50.0 |
40.0 |
10.0 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
38.4 |
30.8 |
30.8 |
100 |
| Total |
38.4 |
33.3 |
28.3 |
100 |
Mashonaland West province features prominently in terms of farmer’s provision of subsidised maize meal to farm workers with nearly 42 percent of farms accessed having this priviledge. This is followed by Manicaland with 30 percent, Mashonaland East 15 percent and Mashonaland Central 10 percent. No free maize meal was given in all provinces surveyed.
Farmers in all provinces indicated that the rations they were getting cannot meet the current demands of the workers. The other important aspect was that only the permanent farm worker was getting a ration irrespective of size of households and all seasonal workers, employed and unemployed were not getting these rations.
Table 3: Percent distribution of Land for Cultivation for Farm Workers by Province
| Province |
Land for cultivation |
Total percent |
| |
Never |
Previously |
Currently |
| Mash West |
20.4 |
33.6 |
46.0 |
100 |
| Mash East |
44.2 |
28.9 |
26.9 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
40.0 |
27.5 |
32.5 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
46.2 |
26.4 |
26.4 |
100 |
| Total |
33.3 |
30.5 |
36.6 |
100 |
In Mashonaland West province 46 percent of farm workers had access to land for cultivation with Mashonaland East and Manicaland having 26 percent each, and Mashonaland Central, 33 percent. However, due to the poor rains this year most did not harvest much.
Less than 20 percent of farm worker children on all farms surveyed were currently benefiting from supplementary feeding. Supplementary feeding seems to be the first casualty when a farm is affected which can have implications on nutrition levels for children in these communities.
5.3 Employment levels and tenancy scenario
In Mashonaland East province, most farm workers have lost employment particularly where the farmer has left. Less than 10 percent of the original farm worker population remains on these farms and where employed, are either guarding the farmhouse while the rest r are just sitting in the village because they have nowhere to go.
Table 4: Summary of Employment and Tenancy Levels by Province
| Province |
Permanent workers normally employed |
Seasonal workers normally employed |
Permanent workers currently employed |
Seasonal workers currently employed |
Permanent workers who normally lived on farm |
Seasonal workers who normally lived on farm |
Permanent workers who currently live on farm |
Seasonal workers who currently live on farm |
| Mash East |
5 168 |
4 800 |
3 693 |
2462 |
7 710 |
4 111 |
3 918 |
4 417 |
| Mash West |
6855 |
7930 |
4151 |
2472 |
6640 |
6818 |
5362 |
4 347 |
| Mash Central |
3 637 |
3 550 |
1 060 |
457 |
3 702 |
3 109 |
1 952 |
2 019 |
| Manicaland |
1432 |
1398 |
1061 |
505 |
1325 |
1102 |
1198 |
770 |
| Total |
17 093 |
17 678 |
9 965 |
5 895 |
19 377 |
15 140 |
12 430 |
11 553 |
Table 5: Mashonaland East -Employment and Tenure Statistics
| District |
Permanent workers normally employed |
Seasonal workers normally employed |
Permanent workers currently employed |
Seasonal workers currently employed |
Permanent workers who normally lived on farm |
Seasonal workers who normally lived on farm |
Permanent workers who currently live on farm |
Seasonal workers who currently live on farm |
| Wedza |
246 |
100 |
28 |
10 |
246 |
30 |
28 |
20 |
| Seke |
108 |
50 |
68 |
5 |
108 |
30 |
68 |
20 |
| Murewa |
243 |
162 |
116 |
41 |
311 |
94 |
121 |
80 |
| Chikomba |
465 |
168 |
47 |
3 |
465 |
168 |
49 |
25 |
| Goromonzi |
2 206 |
2 931 |
1 714 |
1 404 |
2 247 |
2 652 |
1 883 |
3 165 |
| Marondera |
2 252 |
1 389 |
1 720 |
999 |
2186 |
1137 |
1769 |
1 107 |
| Total |
5 168 |
4 800 |
3 693 |
2 462 |
7 710 |
4 111 |
3 918 |
4 417 |
In Mashonaland East province 1953 seasonal and 225 permanent workers have lost employment but are still on the farms translating to 2 147 workers. It was evident though that most of the seasonal workers were wives and children of farm workers. This means if one assumes that a third of all seasonal workers are not part of the households of permanent farm workers, this translates to 876 farm workers households. Since the above figures represent 10 percent of the total workers for the provinces surveyed this translates to 8 760 household for all four provinces. When this figure is multiplied by average household size of 6 people this gives a total of 52 560people.
Seke and Wedza districts are currently no longer employing seasonal workers most of whom have moved off the farms.
In Mashonaland West where most farms have been taken under model A2, the farm workers were still on the farms. Some were on reduced working hours, which translated into a cut in remuneration. On farms that had completely stopped operations, the majority of ex-farm workers were staying on the farm in apparent hopelessness, as they were not clear as to where to go.
Table 6: Mashonaland West -Employment and Tenure Statistics
| District |
Permanent workers normally employed |
Seasonal workers normally employed |
Permanent workers currently employed |
Seasonal workers currently employed |
Permanent workers who normally lived on farm |
Seasonal workers who normally lived on farm |
Permanent workers who currently live on farm |
Seasonal workers who currently live on farm |
| Chegutu |
1237 |
1464 |
775 |
578 |
1213 |
907 |
779 |
713 |
| Kadoma |
418 |
876 |
330 |
465 |
417 |
582 |
367 |
593 |
| Zvimba |
2245 |
2150 |
910 |
458 |
2085 |
2240 |
1865 |
1511 |
| Hurungwe |
1463 |
1188 |
1344 |
647 |
1428 |
1073 |
1289 |
910 |
| Makonde |
1492 |
2252 |
792 |
324 |
1497 |
2016 |
1062 |
620 |
| Total |
6855 |
7930 |
4151 |
2472 |
6640 |
6818 |
5362 |
4 347 |
Currently there are 1876 seasonal and 1211 permanent unemployed workers staying on the farm. Using the same aassumption used for Mashonaland East this translates to 18 360 workers or 110 180 people.
Most permanent farm workers in al province surveyed are still on the farms. The number of permanent farm workers who are currently employed matches closely the number of workers who are still living on the farm. The scenario is different for seasonal farm workers where the number of employees is significantly lower than the number currently living on the farm. This confirms the fact that seasonal workers are the first to lose employment under the current land reform programme.
Most farmers in Manicaland have been left to continue their operations after the downsizing of the farm hectarage. The downsizing has resulted in the scaling down of operations and subsequent reduction in the labour requirements. However, most of the farmers have retained their permanent workers but have stopped hiring seasonal workers who mostly constituted the permanent worker’s spouses and children.
Table 7: Manicaland -Employment and Tenure Statistics
| District |
Permanent workers normally employed |
Seasonal workers normally employed |
Permanent workers currently employed |
Seasonal workers currently employed |
Permanent workers who normally lived on farm |
Seasonal workers who normally lived on farm |
Permanent workers who currently live on farm |
Seasonal workers who currently live on farm |
| Chipinge |
30 |
20 |
30 |
0 |
30 |
20 |
30 |
0 |
| Makoni |
781 |
788 |
585 |
300 |
731 |
753 |
614 |
445 |
| Headlands |
150 |
210 |
110 |
45 |
147 |
60 |
147 |
60 |
| Nyanga |
154 |
80 |
96 |
15 |
100 |
65 |
90 |
15 |
| Rusape |
120 |
60 |
110 |
30 |
120 |
60 |
120 |
40 |
| Mutare |
197 |
240 |
130 |
115 |
197 |
144 |
197 |
210 |
| Total |
1432 |
1398 |
1061 |
505 |
1325 |
1102 |
1198 |
770 |
In Manicaland province, 265 seasonal and 138 permanent workers are unemployed but staying on the farms sampled. This translated to 13,600 people.
In Manicaland province while the number of employed permanent farm workers are close to those living on the farm, statistics point to the fact that some permanent workers live off the farm. This could be attributed to the geographical location of some farms, which are adjacent to communal lands. The same scenario noted in last province concerning seasonal farm workers applies in Manicaland.
In Mashonaland Central, on farms that have stopped operations completely, the farm workers are unemployed but some continue to stay on the farms because they indicate that they have nowhere to go while some have moved to farms that are still operational but still remain unemployed.
Table 8: Mashonaland Central -Employment and Tenure Statistics
| District |
Permanent workers normally employed |
Seasonal workers normally employed |
Permanent workers currently employed |
Seasonal workers currently employed |
Permanent workers who normally lived on farm |
Seasonal workers who normally lived on farm |
Permanent workers who currently live on farm |
Seasonal workers who currently live on farm |
| Bindura |
550 |
677 |
81 |
45 |
550 |
427 |
287 |
100 |
| Guruve |
625 |
505 |
194 |
110 |
625 |
685 |
229 |
370 |
| Mazowe |
1230 |
1618 |
616 |
212 |
1395 |
1603 |
937 |
1151 |
| Mt Darwin |
144 |
68 |
60 |
20 |
144 |
42 |
60 |
31 |
| Shamva |
421 |
352 |
88 |
30 |
421 |
352 |
266 |
297 |
| Muzarabani |
567 |
331 |
31 |
40 |
567 |
333 |
173 |
80 |
| Total |
3 637 |
3 550 |
1 060 |
457 |
3 702 |
3 109 |
1 952 |
2 019 |
In Mashonaland Central province, 892 permanent and 1 562 seasonal workers are unemployed but still on the farms. This translates to about 90 000 people.
Mazoe and Shamva districts have the highest numbers of unemployed seasonal farm workers living on the farm. with both provinces indicating that they have about five times the number of seasonal workers living on the farm but unemployed.
Both permanent and seasonal workers on farms now occupied by settlers and former seasonal workers on farms that are still operating remain in a state of unemployment.
5.4 Coping mechanisms
In Mashonaland East province, most of the unemployed are doing piece jobs or relying on working relatives for survival. About one third of the farm worker population in this province indicated that they were just sitting at home doing nothing.
In Mashonaland West province, the farm workers who had lost employment and had opted to remain on the farms are engaged in three main activities in order to sustain themselves. The most common and generally acceptable activity was piecework during periods of peak labour on operational farms. Particularly in Kadoma district, a considerable number resorted to illegal gold panning and poaching for both fish and wild animals on those farms that had big dams and engaged in game farming, respectively.
In Manicand province the main coping mechanism emerged as that of engaging in piecework. Former seasonal workers who are mainly spouses and children of the permanent employed workers now entirely depend on the earnings of the household heads or employed members of the households.
In Mashonaland Central, the most popular coping mechanisms involved piecework. The former farm workers hire out their labour to those settlers whose workload would have increased to levels that they cannot cope with. The second most popular alternative means of livelihood is gold panning followed by fishing and lastly vending.
The following table gives the provincial analysis of coping mechanisms of unemployed farm workers.
Table 9: Percent Distribution of :Source of Livelihoods for Unemployed Farm Workers
| Province |
Source of livelihood |
Total percent |
| |
Piece-jobs |
Gold panning |
Fishing |
Nothing |
Other |
| Mash West |
46.9 |
1.0 |
3.1 |
37.7 |
11.2 |
100 |
| Mash East |
55.9 |
0.0 |
1.9 |
32.6 |
9.6 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
70.0 |
5.0 |
5.0 |
10.0 |
10.0 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
43.3 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
53.8 |
3.8 |
100 |
| Total |
52.7 |
1.4 |
2.7 |
33.3 |
9.8 |
100 |
Most unemployed workers are relying on piece-jobs contributing 52.7 percent of coping strategies sited in all provinces. It is important to note, however the significant over 50 percent on farm workers in Manicaland province, who indicated that they are just sitting and doing nothing.
5.5 Displacement scenario
In Mashonaland East province, the displacement scenario varies form district to district with most farm workers in Chikomba and Wedza indicating past and possible movement to their communal areas. The situation differs in Marondera where most of the farm workers have stayed on on the farms because they have nowhere to go or have moved to other farms in the same area in search of employment.
Most respondents for Seke indicated that they would stay on the farm until they are resettled. Some farmers who had more than one farm have moved their workers to the un-designated farms but some have sited capacity problems and cannot absorb an extra complement of farm workers.
In Mashonaland West province some of the farm workers had either moved to nearby farms in search of employment or had some arrangements made by the farmer to work at a relative’s nearby farm, which might not have been served with Section 8. In few cases, the farm workers had moved to their rural homes. A common observation was that most of the farms lined up for model A2 resettlement had some farming activities still going on and this tends to give the impression that the situation on the farms is normal. Such situations have the potential of changing abruptly in the event of those allocated the land deciding to move in.
In Manicaland province little movement of farm workers has taken place in the province due to the manner in which resettlement has proceeded. The majority of the farm workers have continued to stay on the farms while retaining their employment status. Those few workers, who moved, did so to other operational farms in the neighbourhood of the affected farms.
In Mashonaland Central province most of the workers do not have rural homes, which explains the highly constrained off-farm movement even after the settlers had moved in. The few who had rural homes have long moved back to their rural homes. Some are now settled in the Mahuwe area of Muzarabani in the Lower Zambezi Valley.
Table 10: Percent Distribution of Past/Current and Proposed Destinations for Evicted Workers by Province
| Province |
Destination for evicted farm workers |
Total/percent |
| |
Communal |
Other farms |
Stay on farm |
Resettlement |
Other |
| Mash West |
17.3 |
16.3 |
56.1 |
4.1 |
6.1 |
100 |
| Mash East |
46.1 |
17.3 |
34.6 |
0.0 |
1.9 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
35.0 |
15.0 |
45.0 |
5.0 |
0.0 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
11.5 |
30.8 |
53.8 |
3.8 |
0.0 |
100 |
| Total |
26.9 |
18.1 |
48.6 |
3.2 |
3.2 |
100 |
In Mashonaland West province close to 60 percent of farm workers indicated that they will stay on on the farms. The peculiar scenario in this province is that the District Administrator has assured the farm workers on farms affected that they can stay on. Four percent of farm workers have been resettled.
It is interesting to note that there were no indications of farm workers being resettled in Mashonaland East but the same province has the highest proportion which indicated that they would go to their communal homes, Most of the farm workers who indicated that they would go to the communal areas were in Chikomba and Murehwa districts.
5.6 Pre school analysis
The following table gives provincial statistics on per-schools in the areas surveyed.
Table 11: Percent Distribution of Pre-school Availability by Province
| Province |
Pre-school of farm |
Total Percent |
| |
Never |
Previous |
Current |
| Mash West |
42.6 |
30.3 |
26.1 |
100 |
| Mash East |
26.8 |
44.3 |
28.9 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
7.5 |
70.0 |
22.5 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
42.3 |
19.2 |
38.5 |
100 |
| Total |
32.4 |
38.8 |
27.8 |
100 |
Statistics indicate that less than 30 percent of farms surveyed had a pre school which is currently operating while the other 70 percent had never had one or it had stopped operating.
Mashonaland West and Manicaland had the highest proportion, about 40 percent, of farms which never had a pre-school, while in Mashonaland Central over 70 percent of the pre-schools have stopped operations.
Table 12: Percent Distribution of Child Vaccination by Province
| Province |
Where vaccinated |
Total percent |
| |
On farm |
Off farm |
| Mash West |
27. 3 |
72.7 |
100 |
| Mash East |
23.1 |
76.9 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
42.5 |
57.5 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
15.3 |
84.6 |
100 |
| Total |
27.3 |
72.7 |
100 |
In all provinces most children get vaccinated at centres off the farm with Mashonaland Central putting a good showing on farm vaccinations.
Table 13: Percent Distribution of Source of Drinking Water by Province
| Province |
Source of water |
Total percent |
| |
Protected |
Unprotected |
| Mash West |
79.6 |
20.3 |
100 |
| Mash East |
96.2 |
3.8 |
100 |
| Mash Central |
65.0 |
53.0 |
100 |
| Manicaland |
84.6 |
13.4 |
100 |
| Total |
81.4 |
8.6 |
100 |
Most farm workers get their drinking water from a protected source with around 80 percent having access to protected water in all provinces except Mashonaland central where the proportion declines to about 70 percent.
|
|
Related documents