Our research has shown how land reform has driven the growth in small towns, creating new economic linkages in a reconfigured economic geography of the country. No longer are the metropolitan centres and associated manufacturing industries driving growth, as these have declined as industries have collapsed along with the decline of the formal economy in Zimbabwe. Instead, growth is emerging in new places, driven by different sources of economic activity, often below-the-radar and informal.
Although far from being immune, small-scale agriculture and mining in the post-land reform resettlement areas have been less affected by the economic chaos that has beset Zimbabwe over the last 25 years compared to the formal industries that used to dominate the urban economy. The formal economy – of manufacturing, services and so on – has been drastically affected by the combination of hyperinflation, parallel currencies and lack of investment due to lack of international financing, as well as rampant corruption, poor macroeconomic policies and the knock-on effects of sanctions (even if focused on limited numbers of individuals as endlessly repeated, they without doubt have an impact on the investment environment). For this reason, the larger urban areas show significant decline, with a flow of people out of these areas back to rural areas and to small towns embedded in agricultural areas.
This article is from Zimbabweland, a blog written by IDS Research Fellow Ian Scoones. Zimbabweland focuses on issues related to rural livelihoods and land reform in Zimbabwe.