$Unique_ID{COW04230} $Pretitle{371} $Title{Zimbabwe Chapter 3B. Crop Cultivation} $Subtitle{} $Author{Donald P. Whitaker} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{percent areas commercial african manufacturing government cattle total number sector} $Date{1982} $Log{Fishing*0423004.scf } Country: Zimbabwe Book: Zimbabwe, A Country Study Author: Donald P. Whitaker Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1982 Chapter 3B. Crop Cultivation The country's tropical climate, moderated by elevation in the highveld and enhanced by irrigation in the warm, arid lowveld regions, permits the cultivation of a variety of crops that ranges from tropical to temperate. Among the more important are maize, millet, sorghum, wheat, cotton, tobacco, groundnuts (peanuts), soybeans, deciduous fruits (apples, peaches, pears, plums, and others), citrus fruits (mainly oranges), bananas, coffee, sugarcane, and tea. In all some fifteen crops are grown in significant quantities. Maize, millet, sorghum, groundnuts, and cotton are main crops in the African communal areas. But beans, cowpeas sweet potatoes, vegetables, and tobacco are also widely grown. Cotton, groundnuts, and tobacco have been the chief African area cash crops; but surpluses of other crops are also sold. In the commercial farming area, the main crops are much the same, although millet is not usually cultivated. Additionally the commercial sector produces in quantity other crops, such as fruits, sugar (sugarcane), coffee, and tea (see table 8; table 9, Appendix). For many years the seasonal nature of rainfall and the usually rapid runoff have led commercial farmers to construct small dams and weirs to supply water for crops and livestock. By 1978 there were over 9,800 private dams and weirs in the white farming areas, and the government had constructed more than 1,300 in the African communal areas. The governmental Tribal Trust Land Development Corporation (TILCOR), established in 1968, has also built a number of dams for small irrigation projects in the communal areas. The government has additionally constructed several large dams for irrigation, including Kyle and Bangala dams on the Mtilikwe River in the southern lowveld. Water from this latter system provides irrigation notably for two large private estates at Triangle and Hippo Valley. These estates initially concentrated on sugarcane, but after the beginning of UN sanctions they greatly diversified their crops-Hippo Valley has become famous for its citrus fruits. In 1982, however, sugarcane remained the major crop, and the output of sugar not only met Zimbabwe's total requirement but also provided a substantial quantity for export. In 1965 the government established the Sabi-Limpopo Authority to promote irrigation in the southeastern lowveld region. Another principal aim was to encourage white settlement in the area. There was relatively little response, apparently in considerable part because of sanctions, which dampened private investment. Available data on the Sabi River valley, where there is a large amount of land suitable for cultivation, indicated that about 15,000 hectares were under irrigation in mid-1982. A contract for a feasibility study on irrigation development on 40,000 hectares in the Chisumbanje region in the valley was reported to have been awarded. The study was being financed by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Livestock Livestock products-mostly beef and milk produced by the commercial sector-accounted for roughly 25 to 30 percent of agricultural output in most years. Sales of livestock and milk by the African subsistance sector through government marketing agencies have amounted to only about 4 to 5 percent of total sales; of the beef consumed domestically, the sector has provided an estimated 25 to 40 percent. This relatively small share (in view of the size of the African herd, which exceeded that of the commercial sector) was related to the widely held belief that a man's status and wealth are associated with the number of cattle he owns. When the European occupation of the territory began in the late nineteenth century, the cattle herd of the Ndebele was estimated at about 150,000. Thefts by white raiders and confiscations by agents of BSAC after the 1893-94 Ndebele uprising (most of these cattle appear to have been subsequently sold in South Africa) were followed in 1896 by the outbreak of a major rinderpest epidemic and the remaining herd was further drastically reduced. Although effective measures against the disease were started the following year, by the end of the century the total number of African cattle was only about 55,000; European-owned animals numbered roughly 10,000 to 12,000. From the early 1900s, however, the African herd grew at a steady rate that was soon matched by growth in numbers of European-owned cattle. By 1925 Africans had over 1 million animals, the European herd was almost as large, and competition for grazing was intense. One result of the great increase in cattle in the African areas was overgrazing and erosion. During the 1920s and 1930s the government attempted voluntary destocking programs that had little success. They were made compulsory through the Natural Resources Act of 1941, under which the livestock-carrying capacity of each African area was determined, and cattle owners were forced to sell or slaughter all animals declared surplus. The low price received from buyers, who were mostly white farmers, created wide resentment. The number of African cattle, which was estimated at close to 1.8 million in 1941, appears to have remained relatively constant thereafter until the mid-1960s. In 1967 the total rose to almost 2.2 million and gradually increased to 3.4 million in 1977. The European cattle herd had declined after 1925, the result apparently of a shift to tobacco growing by white farmers, stimulated by the tobacco export boom of the late 1920s, and a shift to cotton and dairy farming. In 1930 facilities became available for exporting chilled and frozen beef to Britain, but any incentive to increase herd size was almost immediately destroyed by the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and an embargo on exports that lasted two years. By 1936 European cattle numbered only about 750,000. Exports, which again became a significant factor in the 1950s, and growing domestic demand led to a gradual increase to some 1.6 million head in 1965. Notably, whereas destocking was enforced in the African areas during this time, utilization of white reserved grazing land had reached no more than 60 percent of the stocking capacity by 1965. Stocking had been quite low on grazing land in the better cropping regions to that time, mainly because of the emphasis on cultivation, from which better returns were usually received. An upsurge in cattle numbers occurred from the mid-1960s, however, as many farmers affected by tobacco overproduction and low prices changed to beef production. Moreover beef was found a relatively easily exportable item under sanction conditions. From about 1976 both the African and the commercial cattle herds were affected by terrorist actions attributed to guerrilla forces that were particularly serious in the African communal areas. Over time, government veterinary and animal health services built up in the communal areas had brought tsetse fly infestations under control and had almost completely eradicated tick-borne diseases. In what appeared to be an intentional effort to disrupt the cattle industry, guerrillas had by 1978 damaged or made inoperable about half the antitick dipping tanks in the communal areas; water sources and fences had also been destroyed. Guerrilla activities, moreover, prevented continuation of efforts against the tsetse fly. The result was net losses of cattle from disease and other causes by African owners estimated at over 1 million head. The white commercial sector suffered much smaller losses estimated at over 170,000. In part these were caused by disease, a spillover effect from the communal areas, but most of the loss was attributed to thefts and killings. In 1977 and 1978 the number of cattle in the commercial farming areas also declined as the result of prices paid by the CSC for beef that were considered by producers to be too low. Uncertainty over future prospects also played a part, and herds were reduced through slaughtering for beef; some of the breeding herd was also marketed. The total number of cattle, communal and commercial, was reduced between 1977 and 1980 from 6.6 million to 5.4 million. The advent of peace and the economic improvement in 1980 and 1981 resulted in a growing demand for beef, the preferred meat throughout all population sectors. Some rationing occurred in local markets; and exports, normally a major source of foreign exchange, were greatly reduced. By 1982 there were indications of renewed confidence by commercial producers and a start at rebuilding the beef herd. In April 1982 the government also announced significant increases in the purchase prices of beef and milk. But much of the industry was hit by a severe drought that began early in 1982, which was expected to slow substantially the recovery of the national herd. Sheep, goats, and pigs have been of relatively minor significance. Sheep have been raised primarily for meat rather than wool. Their number declined in the commercial farming areas from about 425,000 at the beginning of the 1970s to 172,000 in 1981. In the communal areas sheep had increased in number from 182,000 in 1965 to 494,000 in 1975. Disruption by the guerilla war and related activities appear to have resulted in net losses thereafter. Major declines were reported in 1979 and 1980, although the reasons were not given, and in the latter year the total was only 214,000. There were few goats in the commercial sector. In African areas the number grew steadily in the period 1965-75 from 599,000 to 1.9 million. The number of animals remained relatively stable thereafter until major drops were reported in 1979 and 1980, again for unstated causes. Pork has not been widely popular, and the number of animals has been small in both commercial and communal areas, under normal conditions averaging about 100,000 animals in the former and fewer in the subsistence sector. Poultry has been kept by both subsistence and commercial farmers for home use. A large commercial industry has developed, aided by shortages of beef in the postwar period; in 1981 some 10 million eggs and over 6 million fowl were sold in urban areas. Forestry and Fishing [See Fishing: Courtesy Embassy of Zimbabwe, Washington DC.] Zimbabwe's natural forests consist almost entirely of savanna hardwood trees of moderate to low height, some in closed woodlands, others in open stands, and in more arid areas widely dispersed. These forests are of major importance to the African rural population for whom they constitute the chief source of fuel as well as timbers for posts, rough construction, and miscellaneous local needs. The modern economy also exploits savanna sources for mine props; railroad ties; wood for furniture, flooring, and veneers; and lumber for crates, boxes, and other packaging. Overall, however, the domestic savanna forests do not meet modern sector hardwood needs, and regular imports are required. In 1982 the largest area of commercially significant natural hardwood forests was in the northwestern part of the country where they included important stands of Rhodesian teak that grow on the Kalahari-sand soils found in the region. Relatively small stands of natural montane forests are found in the eastern highlands. They are not open to commercial exploitation but instead are in protected reserves set aside as scenic and tourist attractions. Most of the timber secured by the modern sector from domestic sources actually comes from government and private plantations. The first government plantation (of eucalyptus) was started in the mid-1920s near present-day Mutare. By 1980 government plantations (mostly softwoods, although some wattle-an Australian acacia-was also grown) covered a total of 22,000 hectares; the governmental Forest Commission, which controls national forests and plantations, has announced intentions to add over 19,000 hectares during the decade. In the private sector small plantations of eucalyptus have long been maintained on many white farms to provide timber and poles both for the owner's use and for sale. The main sources of plantation timber,however,been have the private commercial stands, which totaled about 72,000 hectares in 1980. About two-thirds of these private plantations grew pines; the remainder, eucalyptus and wattle. The Forest Commission, on its own and through private operators, processed timber from the government plantations. Harvesting of natural forests under the commission's control was mainly accomplished through concessionaires. Commercial operations involving African communally owned hardwood forests were carried out by private sawmillers. Concern for future forest resources led to the setting aside in the Land Apportionment Act of 1930 of 239,000 hectares of then-European areas as demarcated state forests. Additions were made in subsequent amendments, and the Land Tenure Act of 1969, which in effect replaced the 1930 measure, established the total forest reserve in the European areas at 754,317 hectares. The 1969 act also demarcated 171,930 hectares in the TTL as state forests. Serious deforestation has occurred in the present-day communal lands outside these forests, and one source has estimated that the tree cover had declined by 50 percent between 1963 and 1978. This has stemmed mainly from the growing demand for fuel, building poles, and cultivable land (for which forested areas were cleared) as the population has increased. The Forest Commission has proposed a major five-year reforestation program to provide stands of fast-growing trees for fuel and building materials in communal areas, especially at points of heavier population concentration. Self-help is involved, and technical assistance is furnished by the commission; but full implementation appeared in mid-1982 to be dependent in large part on the securing of foreign financing. The fishing industry has remained small, and fishing activities have played only a minor role in the economy. Before construction of the Kariba Dam, the Tonga people living along the Zambezi River derived a substantial part of their diet from fish (see Ethnic and Racial Groupings, ch. 2). Other indigenous groups also supplemented their diets through fishing in other rivers. Small dams have been built on many commercial farms, and the ponds have been stocked with fish used to feed African workers. Several lakes formed by the country's large dams, in addition to that at Kariba, also have been stocked, largely, however, for sport fishing. In 1982 the only commercial fishing of any significance was restricted to Lake Kariba, where in the mid- to late-1970s annual sardine catches of about 1,000 tons were reported. A privately owned fishcanning plant, designed to process sardines and other fish from the lake, opened in 1979. The company operated its own fishing vessels equipped with purse seines and also employed Tonga fishermen, whom it supplied with boats and nets. A commercial operation to produce freshwater prawns in ponds at Lake Kariba was started in 1980, and a freezing and packing plant was under construction in late 1981. Manufacturing Zimbabwe has a highly diversified manufacturing sector that provides close to 90 percent of the manufactured goods used in the country. In 1982 an array of some 6,200 products was fabricated, including not only a broad range of durable and nondurable consumer goods but also many intermediate products and capital equipment. The sector has been the largest contributor to GDP since 1969, when it accounted for close to 19 percent of the total. During the 1970s its share rose to over 23 percent (24 percent in 1980), a proportion much greater than that in any other Black African state. The importance of manufacturing to the economy was emphasized by its substantial foreign exchange earnings and its position as the second largest employer of wage labor (after agriculture). It accounted for almost 15 percent of wage labor in the late 1970s and approached 17 percent of the total in the first nine months of 1980, when it employed an average of 173,000 workers. Wages paid amounted to about half the total wages of the productive sectors (agriculture, mining, manufacturing, electricity, and construction). Manufacturing output is highly concentrated in and around Harare and Bulawayo, which together accounted for more than 69 percent by value of total production in 1979 (Harare, 46.9 percent: Bulawayo, 22.5 percent). Five other towns had a combined output of over 22 percent of the total, but almost half of this was produced in the Kwekwe-Redcliff area. The less than 10 percent remaining came from scattered localities. Before and during the UDI period the government had from time to time attempted to get new industries to locate in places other than Harare and Bulawayo. The success of those efforts was unknown in 1982, but gross production in all other manufacturing areas had increased to nearly 31 percent of total output in 1979 compared with some 22 percent in 1964. The development of manufacturing has been in the hands of the private sector since the early days of European settlement. Until the mid-1900s there was little if any intervention by the government in the expansion of manufacturing, and even before UDI the idea of exercising control over development was not part of the government's economic philosophy. During the first four decades of the century the official belief was that growth of the economy was dependent fundamentally on the growth of primary production. There appears to have been in fact, a fear that government encouragement of manufacturing would work against normal development of the colony by resulting in increased production costs for primary commodities. Nonetheless by 1938 about 300 manufacturing operations were in existence, employing some 17,500 workers. World War II stimulated the growth of import-substitution industries. The war situation also led to the government's establishment of the Rhodesian Iron and Steel Commission, which initially produced iron from scrap. A lack of transport for exporting cotton and local shortages of textiles prompted the development of a small government-owned spinning and weaving plant. Contrary to expectations, the end of the war did not result in the demise of many of the new industries from competition with cheap imports. Continued sale abroad of raw materials helped to bolster the economy and the domestic market for locally made goods. Substantial investment from Britain and South Africa (after the change in government in that country in 1948) provided capital for new enterprises. In 1952, the year before formation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (also known as the Central African Federation), there were roughly 725 manufacturing establishments having some 68,000 employees. The federation opened large new duty-free markets for manufactured goods. At the same time, the government offered extremely favorable incentives to entrepreneurs to start or expand operations. One result was an influx of foreign private capital, of which the greater amount came from Britain, followed by South Africa, and to a lesser extent the United States and several other countries. Some of the larger industries established during the federation period (1953-63) included a large-scale weaving mill, a ferrochrome processing plant, and a copper smelter. Iron and steel production expanded tremendously; in 1957 the government plant was taken over by a British consortium. A fertilizer plant was opened in the late 1950s, and the assembly of automobiles began in Mutare in 1960 and somewhat later in Salisbury (present-day Harare). When the federation was dissolved in 1963, work was also well along on an oil refinery and a pipeline to supply it. A far from exhaustive list of consumer goods manufactured in 1964 shows the great variety of locally produced items: batteries, bedding, carpets, cigarettes, clothing, coffee, confectionaries, cosmetics, detergents and other household cleaning materials, foods in great number, furniture, ink, paint, paper, pesticides, pet foods, pharmaceuticals, radios, record players, shoes, soap, television receivers, tires, and tubes. The sanctions that followed UDI caused a temporary setback in manufacturing. In 1966 most of the trade with Zambia, which had accounted for roughly half of Rhodesia's exports of manufactured goods, had ended as had that with Britain. Many factories reduced work hours, others laid employees, and some closed. Measured by the production volume index, manufacturing output dropped more than 9 percent during the year. Exchange restrictions were placed on repatriation by foreign firms of dividends and capital, thus forcing reinvestment in the country. Controls had been instituted on imports shortly before UDI to improve the balance of payments position, and soon after UDI tariff protection was increased; both measures were of substantial benefit to import substitution industries. The enlarging of existing operations and the establishment of new industries were encouraged. But for the first time an element of government control was introduced, and each proposal was carefully scrutinized for feasibility, especially with regard to foreign exchange requirements. By 1968 roughly 400 new manufacturing project applications had been approved, and the number had doubled two years later. In 1967 manufacturing production rose by more than 9 percent, and the sector's contribution to GDP had regained (and somewhat exceeded) the 1966 level. There was steady growth in output through 1974, although this was not uniform among the different manufacturing subsectors. Important structural changes occurred, marked by the rapid development and expansion of intermediate and capital goods industries, including cotton spinning and weaving, iron and steel, machinery fabrication, nonferrous metals, and plastics (see table 10, Appendix). Adversely affected by sanctions were tobacco in particular and motor transport. In 1967 the country's two automobile assembly plants shut down, primarily because of the inability to obtain parts from Britain. In 1969, however, they were reopened and began assembling French, West German, Italian, and Japanese cars from kits. One of the methods used to bypass sanctions-a notable case being the pharmaceutical industry-was to acquire franchises from foreign companies for domestic production of items no longer exported to Rhodesia. From 1975 through 1978 a gradual drop in production occurred in all major branches of manufacturing except foodstuffs. Strengthened external sanction efforts, the domestic drain on trained manpower as military action increased, transport problems, and especially the much smaller amount of foreign exchange provided for imports (only a little more than half the amount allocated before 1975) were principal causes for a decline in output estimated at about 4 percent annually during the period. There was little physical damage to manufacturing facilities, however, the greater proportion of which were protected by their location in Salisbury and Bulawayo. After the end of fighting in 1979, the return of skilled manpower, larger foreign exchange allocations, and available excess plant capacity provided the bases for an increase in output. In that year the volume of manufacturing production increased by 10.7 percent and in 1980 by 14.9 percent. Output continued to increase in 1981 but slackened after midyear as foreign exchange allocations were reduced because of balance of payments problems, shortages of raw materials, and emigration of trained staff. The estimated growth rate for the year, however, was close to 10 percent. In 1981 the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA) furnished loans to the government totaling the equivalent of US$65 million to assist in procuring machine spare parts, components, and raw materials. An important factor in continued manufacturing growth in the 1980s, however, will be the replacement of machinery that is obsolete or approaching obsolescence.