The National Livestock Policy framework

Abstract

A central feature of the allocation of agricultural resources in Zimbabwe before independence was the extremely inequitable distribution of land (in both quantitative and qualitative terms), water (irrigation) resources, livestock resources, extension and research services, rural and agricultural infrastructure (including markets and broader services) and related financial resources in the form of investments, subsidies and credit. These differences were clearly reflected in the different levels of technology, patterns of labour utilisation and indices of productivity and efficiency obtaining in the various agricultural sub-sectors. The basic principles which underlay this lack of equity were (apart from financial privilege), the creation of a guaranteed supply of cheap labour from the Communal Lands, the reduction of agricultural economic competition, and the maintenance of social security at little cost.