Agro-forestry resources management, transformation and challenges in Southern Africa: the case of post-land resettlement in Zimbabwe, 2000-2013

Abstract

The chapter revolves around three guiding principles, namely, agroforestry operations viability, afforestation and robust tourism. Defining key terms as ‘‘afforestation” and “deforestation,” the chapter exposes their contradictory meaning, while explicitly indicating how sustainable agro-forestry resources management could be consolidated to benefit Zimbabwean nationals and international development partners based on the nature of their response to afforestation and reforestation. Arguing that agro-forestry resources management in Zimbabwe is not simply an inward but equally outward oriented process, it ultimately remains to benefit the nationals more when conceived as a multinational subject of mutual concern, especially its socio-economic cultural dimension. Based on the above insights, the research contends that inasmuch as the land reform occurred in Zimbabwe, it remains a significant reformative vehicle that should be premised on the scientific agro-ecological zones that constantly inform progressive agro-forestry resources management in Zimbabwe.