EXPLAINING PRODUCTIVITY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BENEFICIARIES OF ZIMBABWE'S FAST TRACK LAND REFORM PROGRAMME AND COMMUNAL FARMERS

In the year 2000 the government of Zimbabwe launched the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) as part of its on-going land reform and resettlement programme. The main premise of the programme is to address the racially skewed land distribution pattern inherited at independence in 1980. While the programme has been accompanied by an overall reduction in agricultural production which has created widespread food insecurity throughout the country, empirical research on the impact of the programme on the agricultural productivity of its beneficiaries has been limited. This paper uses data on beneficiaries of the programme and a control group of communal farmers to (i) investigate the presence of agricultural productivity differences between beneficiaries and communal farmers, and (ii) examine differences in chemical fertiliser use as a possible source of these differences. The results suggest that FTLRP beneficiaries gain a productivity advantage not only from the fact that they use more fertiliser per hectare, but also from attaining a higher rate of return from its use.