Non-Agricultural Enterprise In The Communal Lands Of Zimbabwe: Preliminary Results Of A Survey

Abstract

Since independence considerable attention has been given to the development of the Communal Lands. Basic public services such as education and health have been expanded rapidly to cover all districts. Conditions for peasant agricultural production have been improved via a reorientation of parastatals such as the Grain Marketing Board, Cotton Marketing Board etc. Availability of small farmer credit improved, so also did extension. Given the already existing population pressures in many communal areas and the agro-ecological limits in many areas, considerable emphasis has also been put on the need to diversify the communal lands economically, to develop the non-agricultural sides of the economy.