Evolution and Development of Contract Farming in Zimbabwe: A Reflection for Agribusiness

Agriculture in developing countries is characterised by low productivity and underutilisation of arable land. Southern African countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa have a long history of excluding black farmers in the commercial farming sector. Prior to independence, colonial policies favoured the white minority over the black majority, thereby creating large numbers of peasant farmers. Literature argues that contract farming can play a vital role in raising the agricultural productivity of peasant farmers. In contract farming, an agribusiness firm lends inputs such as fertilizer, seeds and pesticides to a farmer in return for the crop grown. This paper examines the Tian Ze Tobacco Company (TZTC) contract farming scheme in Zimbabwe as a “vehicle” to promote a new breed of emerging black commercial farmers in Southern Africa. The results of this study confirm that contract farming has a potential to boost productivity in Zimbabwe’s farming sector and empower the emerging black farmers. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p23