Resettlement revisited: land reform results in resource-poor regions in Zimbabwe

The land issue in Zimbabwe - in particular the land invasions and confiscat ions - is currently commanding international attention. However, ever since the introduction of land reform in the country, the land policy and its ef fects have been under debate in Zimbabwe itself. Much of the discussion has focused on the land reform programmes' impact on total agricultural output on the one hand, and the incidence of rural poverty on the other. This pap er is largely based on primary data collected recently in one of the resour ce-poor regions of the country (Insiza District) among 377 households - squ atter households included - in communal and resettlement areas. After the p resentation of some background material, data on the production conditions, the productivity of arable land resources and the level and composition of income are analysed. This analysis shows that the overall impact of resett lement on agricultural production and rural poverty is positive. Resettled households are mostly able to obtain higher output and income levels than h ouseholds living in the communal areas. Squatters living in or near the res ettlement schemes turn out to realise the same income level as households i n the communal areas. At the same time however, there are clear indications that internal and external pressures on the natural resources in the reset tlement schemes are increasing. A considerable part of these pressures is a consequence of squatting. Although formal policy still does not allow any squatting, not even by children of settlers, the research findings show tha t this phenomenon has become a fact of life. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.