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Report on Assessment of the Impact of Land Reform Programme
on Commercial Farm Worker Livelihoods
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| 7. Recommendations |
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Farm workers need food assistance urgently. The dilemma is that the most affected farm workers are not necessarily the most accessible. The situation is such that in three months time farms which have been served with notices will have closed down and the future of the farm workers in terms of tenancy is not secure.
The magnitude of farm workers affected is very large and at worst is estimated at half a million for the four province.
It is not feasible to feed such a large number of people and taking into consideration the fact that the situation is very dynamic these figure can change significantly in the next month or so. This could be due to some unemployed workers moving out and the possible resumption of operations on some farms which will benefit from the recent legislation on removal of settlers on farms not listed. This could mean the number of employed workers might increase.
For the purposes of targeting, the best option is to consider only the unemployed permanent farm workers. The reasons being that most seasonal workers are part of the household of permanent worker. The second reason is that permanent workers are more stable and live on one farm for a long time.
The following is an indication of numbers involved:
Table 14: Summary Statistics of Farm Workers Affected
| Province |
Number of sampled workers |
Populationof affectedworkers |
Total number of beneficiaries |
| Mash West |
1 836 |
18 360 |
110 180 |
| Mash East |
1 162 |
11 620 |
52 560 |
| Mash Central |
1 500 |
15 000 |
90 000 |
| Manicaland |
226 |
2 260 |
13 600 |
| Total |
4 724 |
47 240 |
266 340 |
The food aid programme will feed 80 000 people representing 30 percent of the above number.
It is therefore necessary to reaffirm the figures with actual registers of farm workers before food is distributed. The challenge is how best to target farm workers who are living in the same compound with new settlers, who are probably the most needy.
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