The A2 farms in Matobo are in some of the most remote parts of the district.
These are predominantly livestock farming areas, with cattle being the dominant livestock type.
Getting to these areas in the rainy season requires a four-wheel drive, skilled driving and much patience.
The farms have been carved out of huge ranches with an average of 2800 hectares, with current farms being around 486 ha on average.
The other medium-scale farms in the area – which we combine in our analysis with A2 farms – are so-called three-tier farms with average sizes of 302 ha, which were allocated by the district council prior to the land reform.
Most farms in our sample are not inhabited permanently by the farm owner, although this has shifted over time as owners have retired from jobs in town.
Many farms have very basic forms of accommodation mostly occupied by farm workers who manage the herding of animals, as well as sometimes some limited irrigated horticulture near the homesteads.
A2 farms include many who were formerly war veterans, often with the Zipra liberation army, but many have not had high level political connections as is common with those coming from Mashonaland and so have not had access to sources of patronage from the party-state.
- Revisiting Majaivana’s last show… ‘We made huge losses’
- Edutainment mix: The nexus of music and cultural identity
- ChiTown acting mayor blocks election
- Promoter Mdu 3D defends foreigners 30 minute set
Keep Reading
As discussed below, most financing comes from private sources, including off-farm businesses, diaspora remittances and other jobs, including with NGOs and as consultants (although with the collapse of aid funding, this is now more difficult).
Investment in these farms has mostly been focused on livestock production, with fencing established for creating paddocks and holding pens, and near homesteads there are often dipping races, barns and watering points.
This is a dry area and with subdivided farms one of the imperatives is to secure a water source on the new farm. In the past, water points – boreholes, dams, ponds and so on – were spread over vast areas, with many farms including both ‘sweet’ and ‘sour’ veld grazing, allowing flexible movement across the ranch.
Today this may not be possible, and a more intensive management of livestock has emerged in some areas, with boreholes being drilled and feed and supplements imported to supplement what exists on the farm.
New A2 farms were often not created with the variable ecology in mind, so a farm may have no water and only sour veld available within its perimeters, making lease grazing and/or importing feed essential.
Many attempts to drill boreholes for animal drinking, dip races, domestic use or small-scale garden or fodder irrigation have failed in this area.
The groundwater levels are deep, and the availability of obvious wetland areas limited.
Many farmers have lost thousands of US dollars on failed attempts with borehole drilling companies who sell their services across the area.
In some cases, existing but now dilapidated infrastructure can be rehabilitated, whether dipping races or irrigation systems.
In other cases, the allocation was just a former paddock, and nothing existed before.
In some areas, the new farmers have come together and collaborated on infrastructure development; for example, there is a water sharing group amongst six farmers in Wild East area, with a revived pump allowing for the supply of water to homesteads, and dipping amongst four farmers in Mampondweni farm.
Relationships with markets are essential for such A2 farmers in Matobo, but long distances and often small herds and therefore limited offtake make it difficult to market efficiently.
Getting a live animal to a market is costly given the costs of transport on challenging roads.
Some rely on mobile traders with huge trucks who move around these farms, with local ‘agents’ who buy cattle for them at a cheap price.
Others hire transport to take animals to abattoirs or the auction market, CC Sales near Bulawayo.
The cost of transport animals to abattoirs/auctions in town is US$50 per animal per trip.
Transporting animals to markets is risky because of cartels of often former white ranchers that dominate the abattoir and auction businesses in this region.
This means that animals do not exceed a certain price.
While livestock owners can bargain with mobile agents at the farm, when paying the cost of transport to town bargaining options reduce when dealing with abattoirs and auctions.
Managing and coordinating labour is essential in the livestock system of Matobo. This is not easy.
With most livestock owners based in town and visiting irregularly – at most once a week, often once a fortnight – reliance on farm labour for herding and overall farm management is essential.
Having a senior farm manager is essential. Salaries are low, amounting to around 1000 South African rand a month, with some basic food provisions (often soya chunks and mealie meal).
Many workers in the past harvested the then plentiful game, but this is now largely depleted.
There is a huge turnover of herding labour in these areas, with workers coming and going.
These are not easy places to live and the attractions of gold mining, for example, in the areas to the south is strong.
Workers may be recruited locally, but many come from other parts of the country, from as far as Binga in Matabeleland North, for example.
Most workers are single men or sometimes couples, as there are few amenities nearby and no schools for children making it difficult to live with a family on the farms.
In many of our A2 (plus 3-tier) farms in our sample, the original recipient of the land has passed on, and wives have taken over the land. As they commented to us, this is really tough.
To visit a farm, you have to leave Bulawayo at 4 am and only get back in the evening.
These are remote places, where a car breakdown can cause major problems (as we have found on several occasions).
The negotiation of grazing access and the management of cattle over wide areas requires interacting with men on other farms who may not respect women and their knowledge of and commitment to cattle keeping.
Many widows wish that their sons would take over, but generational transitions amongst our sample have been rare as sons too are not so keen on livestock keeping in remote areas, even if from a town (or even diaspora) base.
Female farm owners may therefore work together with a relative or friend on a nearby farm, combining forces effectively amalgamating their farms, or they may persuade a male relative to come and lead the day-to-day activities.
*This post was written by Ian Scoones and Tapiwa Chatikobo and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
