Traditional Systems of Soil Classification in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Since independence a large number of researchers have scrambled into the communal lands of Zimbabwe to investigate agricultural production in relation to the physical environment as well as the socio-economic structures of these tribal communities. Many of the researchers are social scientists whose mode of investigation follows a Farm Systems Research approach. Most of the workers, by reason of their training or background, or both, do not have a ready key for translating vernacular expressions for environmental factors into their correct technical equivalents and yet the accuracy of such translations is central to the correct interpretation of die implications of such environmental factors to productivity. This report seeks to establish a key for use by scientists working in communal lands which accurately represents the technical implications of soil names.