Abstract
The aim of this study was to trace the role of the state in agricultural production and accumulation on Zimbabwe’s A2 farms after the Fast Track Land Reform Programme. A2 farms are generally classified as encompassing small, medium and large-scale commercial farms averaging 100 hectares. The study adopted a qualitative paradigm and used a case study of the Middle Sabi estate in Chipinge district to look at accumulation dynamics on the farms under the Command Agriculture Scheme, a state-led contract farming scheme. Of the many post-fast track land reform studies in Zimbabwe this study has two original qualities. First, it interrogated a recent state-led intervention in the agriculture sector that is also supported by private international capital. Second, it used the theoretical lens of the ‘incomplete’ process of ‘primitive accumulation’ to analyse relations between the state, new farmers, and various fractions, especially international, of capital and the resultant dynamics of production and accumulation. The findings show the existence of nine enablers of production on the farms. Further, the state, through the Command Agriculture Scheme has acted as both an enabler and inhibitor of production. Institutional failures including logistical inefficiencies and corruption, coupled with illequipped farmers, have all been compounded by a faltering economy and an inadequate support framework for agrarian accumulation. This has resulted in varied but largely underwhelming production outcomes among contracted farmers. While there is some notable differentiation among the farmers, they do not as a whole, stand out distinctly as an accumulating black agrarian class.
M.A. (Development Studies)