On the fast track to land degradation? A case study of the impact of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme in Kadoma District, Zimbabwe
- Authors: Fox, Roddy C , Rowntree, Kate M , Chigumira, Easther C
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6663 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006668
- Description: The Fast Track Land Reform Programme is the defining instrument for Zimbabwe’s future development prospects. In the three year period from 2000 to 2002 300,000 families were resettled on 11 million hectares thus witnessing the end of the colonial division of land which had seen 15.5 million hectares still in European hands in 1980, the start of the post-colonial period. The process which displaced the commercial farm workers and farm owners was chaotic, violent and disorderly and so has been called jambanja. Subsequent legislation and government agricultural initiatives have attempted to impose, retroactively, technocratic order to the sweeping changes that have taken place. Our study shows that the dire macro-economic situation coupled with trends of HIV/AIDS prevalence means that developing sustainable land use practices is going to be a very difficult proposition. At the local scale, our case studies show that there have been multiple outcomes with low investment, very limited government support and resource extraction leading to land degradation and unsustainable farming practices. In some instances, however, individual households have benefitted in the short term from the process but this has only occurred where climatic and soil conditions have been particularly favourable.
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Between the Reds and the Greens: a geographical interpretation of the land question in South Africa
- Authors: Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2003
- Language: English
- Type: Text
- Identifier: vital:575 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006657
- Description: This inaugural lecture is in two parts: each related to a different nexus of the four types of scholarly activity. The first reflects on my career and is an examination of how I have developed as a teacher and learner. The key scholarly activities being discovery, integration and teaching. The second part reflects on the evolution of my research interests and leads up to an examination of the land question in South Africa. The scholarly activities in this part of the lecture are discovery, integration and application.
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The land question in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya: a geographical perspective on resource endowment
- Authors: Fox, Roddy C , Rowntree, Kate M
- Date: 2002
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6664 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006671
- Description: In sharp contrast to the debates concerning land policy, land tenure and sustainable resource management in South Africa is any input concerning the geographical distribution of land productivity. This paper attempts to redress this imbalance by providing an empirical investigation of land potential in South Africa. In this way we intend to provide the crucial context for policy and academic studies of the land issue in South Africa. Furthermore, we will undertake our study in such a way that comparison can be made to Zimbabwe and Kenya where the land issue has been such a critical component of the post-colonial development process. Theoretically our work is contextualised within the debates surrounding the importance of geographical endowments, institutions and policies in the development process.
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