Zimbabwe: Landuse in Dry Tropical Savannas

Communal mixed farming systems

Zimbabwe's communal areas are where communal farmers reside and practice agriculture for subsistence purposes. Sometimes they produce excess crops and livestock products for sale (1). Land allocation in the communal lands remains a source of conflict, with local government, political parties and tribal authorities all having varying degrees of control.

Cattle are very important for communal farmers, more so in the low rainfall areas. They represent a more viable production system than crops and are used as a form of financial security. Thus every farmer aspires to have more cattle leading to over-grazing as cattle numbers exceed the carrying capacity of the land. Goat production is also very important in low rainfall areas.

Early polices isolated peasants from markets and restricted access to land. In the absence of suitable farming systems which allowed peasants to farm their land holding more extensively, the increase in population resulted in land degradation and declining per capita production. One simply has to look at a Landsat image (American space satellite imaging the earth ) of Zimbabwe taken from space to pick out the communal lands. See adjacent satellite image taken over Zimbabwe. These stand out distinctly as whiteish patches signifying little or no vegetation cover because of deforestation and general land degradation. Typical land holding per household in this sector is between 2 - 10 hectares whereas it is on average 2,500 hectares in the commercial farming areas .

Land potential

The study area lies within regions III, IV and V of the agro-ecological classification scheme of Zimbabwe. (3). Regions, IV and V are used for cropping for subsistence. Drought resistance maize varieties and small grains like millet and sorghum are grown, with cattle and goats kept as a more viable form of security than crops. It has been suggested that with the provision of irrigation, this area provides a potentially higher yield and greater value per hectare than extensive ranching. However the sustainability of such a production system has been questioned especially in an area where the wildlife / cropping interface creates an obvious source of conflict.

The potential for combining wildlife production systems (tourism and hunting safaris) with subsistence agriculture is one option that is currently under the microscope in such areas. A programme known as the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) has been launched.

Land ownership and title

A notable feature of communal areas is that the inhabitants do not possess title to the land. The land is communally owned and allocated to families for arable farming and settlement. Historically, allocation of arable land in the communal areas was the responsibility of the chiefs. After the independence in 1980 this responsibly was given to locally elected district councils. In many areas of Zimbabwe, there is some conflict between these district councils, now known as rural district councils, and chiefs with regard to the power over land allocation.