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The fast track resettlement and urban development nexus1: the case for Harare
By Nelson Marongwe
Paper Presented at the Symposium on Delivering Land and securing Rural Livelihoods:
Post Independence Land Reform and Resettlement in Zimbabwe, Mont Clair, Nyanga
26 - 28 March 2003
ZERO - Regional Environment Organisation
Email: zero@mweb.co.za
Posted with permission of the author
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Introduction and Context of the Study
The year 2000 farm occupations witnessed a massive movement of people from various localities into large-scale commercial farms in search of agricultural land. Whilst most land occupations took place in commercial farming areas in predominantly rural areas close to communal areas, there was also a steady movement into and occupation of various forms of urban and peri-urban areas as the "landless" urban people also took the opportunity and exploited the chaotic situation created by farm occupations countrywide.
On the other hand, Zimbabwe's land policy had already realized the importance of peri-urban settlement in the country's land reform process (GOZ 1998). For instance, the Inception Phase Framework Plan proposed, among other things, to develop mechanisms for monitoring urban growth and the demand for and supply of urban land both within and outside existing towns and cities. One of the aims of the policy document is to manage peri-urban areas as zones of transition that maximise the enjoyment of positive elements of both town and country. The rural-urban nexus is therefore an important area for policy analysis and research. It is commonly understood that urban development can only occur at the expense of rural land. The changing land-uses, policy environments, land ownership patterns and land administrative mechanism that occur in such transitional zones are key factors that define the dynamics of development in urban and peri-urban areas.
Studies world-wide have shown that small farms almost always produce far more agricultural output per unit area than large farms. This has been proven to be the case for both industrialised and developing countries. There is wide literature that has confirmed the inverse relationship between farm size and output (Ellis 1993, Berry and Cline W. R. 1979, Feder 1985, Prosterman and Riedinger 1987, Cornia 1985, Netting 1993). For example, various studies have showed that the smallest farms have greater dollar output per acre than larger farms. There are many reasons that explain this situation, with the most obvious ones being that smaller farms tend to specialise in high value crops like vegetables and flowers, that there is more labour and inputs applied per unit area and that there is a tendency towards the use of more diverse farming systems (Strange 1988). Peri-urban areas provide the greatest opportunity and environment for the implementation of small-farm based resettlement approaches. Intensity of land-use is most practical in the peri-urban areas. The experience of urban allotment gardens in developed countries provides a useful insight on how urban and peri-urban farming can be modelled . This debate largely provides the rationale on why Zimbabwe's land reform processes has carved a niche for urban and peri-urban settlement. This approach in a way accommodates the land requirements of urban agriculture, especially for peri-urban areas.
This paper discusses the nexus between fast track resettlement and urban development. As is mentioned elsewhere in this report, land occupations cum-fast track resettlement in urban and peri-urban areas was driven by two main motives. Firstly, it was the desire by certain sections of the urban populace to access land for residential purposes. Secondly, there was also an inherent desire by settlers to access land for the practice of urban and peri-urban agriculture. Many other scholars have demonstrated the importance of urban agriculture in urban areas and that access to land was the greatest constraint to the activity (Mbiba 1995, Mudimu 1986, Masoka 1997, ENDA-Zimbabwe 1994). Thus some settlers seized the opportunity presented by fast track to access land for the practice of urban agriculture.
Footnote
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Part of this paper was also presented at the IASCP Conference in Victoria Falls, June 2002.
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